


the case of us

by regal_roni



Category: NCIS
Genre: Angst, Coworkers to lovers, Developing Relationship, Eventual Happy Ending, F/F, Flirting, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Nightmares, Original Character Death(s), Pining, Reader-Insert, Romance, Slow Burn, Swearing, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:27:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 42,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22962382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regal_roni/pseuds/regal_roni
Summary: Someone from Readers past turns up at NCIS unannounced and neither Jack or Reader could predict where it leads them.
Relationships: Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane/Reader
Comments: 46
Kudos: 97





	1. Chapter One

You paced the length of the conference room, biting the hangnail on your thumb as you waited for the women you hadn’t seen in 4 years to arrive. 

You spun around to face the door when it began to open and in walked _Felicity Walden._ She hadn’t changed much since the last time you’d seen her. Your eyes zero in on the golden wedding band now on her finger and the pain you’d thought you’d long ago overcame, comes roaring back. Felicity must notice your fixation as she fiddles with the ring before moving her hand behind her back causing you to snap your gaze to hers.

The agent who’d brought her up leaves the room while both you and Felicity stare at each other from either side of the room. 

“What do you want?” You finally spit. It’s hostile and you enjoy the flash of shame that crosses her face. 

“I know you never want to see me again, but I need your help-”

You can’t help the bitter laugh that escapes. “You think you have the _right_ to ask for my help after what you and Sam-”

“We don’t!” Felicity cuts you off and you ground your teeth in anger “But Sam’s the reason I'm here...” Her voice wobbles. 

Your eyes narrow and you huff. “And what? she couldn’t come here herself-”

“She’s missing.” Sound rushes to your ears and you finally lower yourself into a chair, your breathe completely knocked away. _Oh no. No. This couldn’t be happening._ You take a deep breath in the efforts to calm yourself and focus back on Felicity who’s still talking. 

“It’s been 3 days. She just never came home on Sunday and the police don’t know anything, her father’s been using every contact he’s got but there’s hardly been anything and I just…” Emotion is thick in her voice as her voice cracks. “I can’t lose her Y/N.”

Felicity wipes away a few tears. You sigh deeply, rubbing your eyes as you grab the pad of paper and pen on the table “When was the last time you saw her?”

“We had lunch together on Sunday. We were meant to go shopping together afterwards but I got called into work. I dropped her off at the supermarket and she was going to uber home.”

“Have the police got any leads?”

“They won’t tell me. They’re being very tight-lipped about it all.” 

“Do you have anyone you suspect?”

“I know she was having issues with a colleague at work. Patrick Vack? She’d said he could be a bit handsy and had made some homophobic comments, but she wouldn’t report him. If he’d been a serious threat, she would have.” 

“Any ransom calls?”

“No.” _shit._

“Ok. I’m going to go speak to my boss. You stay here and I’ll be back” You stand from your chair, avoiding Felicity’s eyes.

“Thank you, Y/N., I know this must be hard-”

“Let’s not talk about it okay. What happened, it’s not important right now. All that’s important is getting Sam home.” 

You leave the room, sending the agent who’d brought her up back to the conference room to wait with her. You walk to the first unused office you can find and shut the door. Taking deep calming breaths to try and stop the wave of tears you can feel brewing. It doesn’t help. 

—

You return to the bullpen 10 minutes later, no evidence left on your face to show you were ever crying.

You walk straight to Gibbs’ desk. He slowly turns his head from the computer and raises his eyebrow at you in question.

“I’ve just been informed an old friend of mine, Samantha Walden, is missing and I’ve promised someone I’ll help look into the case. She’s not in the navy but-”

“What do you need Y/N?” Gibbs cuts you off and you’re grateful he’s immediately ready to help.

“I need to contact the Police Department that is handling the case-”

“Doing it” Bishop cuts in from her desk, already picking up her phone and you flash her a grateful smile. 

“Uh she was last seen by her uh wife,” you stumble over the words, but the others don’t seem to notice or don’t comment either way you’re grateful. “Felicity, Sunday afternoon at Whole Foods. Her father, Robert Moore was a lawyer.”

“Robert Moore? He’s put away a lot of bad people. He’s basically a legend.” McGee pipes up in wonder and you nod.

“I suspect that may be a possible reason for her abduction although it’s been 3 days, and no one has been contacted for a ransom.”

“Washington PD is sending over the case file. They haven’t got many leads. They found her mobile phone in the parking lot of Whole Foods, but it’s smashed to pieces. There’s also a security video. I’ve told them to send it to Kasie hopefully she’ll be able to find something.” 

“Felicity is upstairs still in the conference room. We’ll need to get Robert to come in. and she also mentioned that there was a colleague, Patrick Vack, who had been causing problems at her work.” 

“Ok. Torres and McGee go get Vack. Bishop, cell phone records, credit card statements, everything. Y/N introduce me to the wife. We’ll get an official statement and also invite her father in.”

The team jumps into action immediately. Torres and McGee out of the room before Gibbs had finished speaking. You lead Gibbs to the conference room where Felicity is still sitting, now with a cup of coffee. 

“Gibbs, This is Felicity. Felicity, my boss Special Agent Gibbs.” You signal between the two, standing still as they shake hands. Gibbs sits down. “I’m going to invite Robert in, Gibbs is going to ask you a few more questions.” 

“Oh! He’s on his way, I told him to come after you said you’d help.” 

“Right.” You swallow thickly, Gibbs shooting you a curious gaze at your odd response. “I’ll get Sloane and we’ll interview Robert. I’ll leave you with Felicity?” Gibbs just nods and you gratefully exit the room. 

On the way to Sloane’s office, you call down to reception to tell them to place Robert in conference room 2 once he’d arrived. 

Her office door is open like always, and you enter without knocking. Sloane’s sitting at her desk reading from her computer screen but looks up as you enter, a kind smile lighting up her face which is instantly dulled by concern. “You look like you’ve had a hell of a morning.” 

You laugh lightly “Yeah you could say that. Did Bishop send you the case file?” 

She sits slightly higher in her chair as she taps the computer screen “Samantha Walden. Bishop said she’s a friend?” 

“Was a friend.” Sloane’s eyes widened in surprise at your blunt answer. “Her father is on the way in, would you help with the interview?” 

“Robert Moore correct?” you nod “Famous ex-prosecutor. I’d be happy to, but why? It’s not like you to ask for assistance with something like this?” You shuffle awkwardly under the pressure of her eyes.

“I haven’t seen him in just over 4 years now and he was like a father to me. I just...It’d be nice to have someone there to keep the conversation focused and to make sure the right questions are asked.” You swallow, eyes avoiding Sloane’s. 

“Ok.” Sloane smiles and you breathe a sigh of relief. “Is there something we should know about what happened between you and Samantha?” 

Your phone pings with an email notifying you of Robert's arrival. Sloane sighs already predicted she’s now not going to get an answer. “Robert’s here. Let’s go.” You offer a quick smile, before turning and exiting her office. She quickly grabs the printed Walden case file and a pen before following you. 

Robert looks tired and worn out, pacing the office like you had been earlier this morning. You enter behind Sloane and Robert stops the second he sees you. “Y/N?” 

His shock means Felicity hadn’t actually told him she’d come to visit you. _Great_. You can’t find the words to say anything and just offer a small smile. Sloane steps over, shaking the man's hand. 

“Special Agent Jack Sloane. Sorry to meet under these circumstances, Mr Moore.” Robert is staring at you as Sloane speaks. 

“We aren’t Military. We have nothing to do with it at all, why are you helping?” Robert looks between you and Sloane. Sloane looks to you and you clear your throat. 

“Felicity came to me asking if I could help.” You shrug slightly scowling “I’m not a monster. Sam was my best friend.”

“Of course, not but after everything that happened...” Robert trails off and you swallow thickly unable to meet his eyes. 

Sloane jumps in, cutting the tension in the room before it’s too bad. “Mr Moore-” 

“Robert, please” 

“Robert. Is there anyone that you think could be responsible for your daughter's disappearance? Anyone you’ve put away that has made threats?” 

“Of course, there were threats over my career, but I’ve been retired for two years, Special Agent Sloane.”

“We know Da-” You cut yourself off, your eyes widening as you quickly clear your throat in the hopes no one will notice. You feel sick. “It’s possible someone you put away got released.” 

“There’s only been 3 or 4 over the last few months, but I can make a list. I haven’t received any threats to my home but it’s possible they sent something to my old office.”

“That would be great.” Sloane hands him the paper and pen she brought with her. 

“Right great. The agent here will wait while you do that. Here’s my card and if you think of anything else or something happens please contact us.” You move from your chair, itching to get out of the room, but Robert immediately stands as well. 

“Wait! Y/N-”

“I’ve really got to be going, I’ve got another meeting-”

“Please kid, one minute.” Your body tenses at the use of ‘kid’. Sloane stands from her chair, tapping your arm reassuringly before quietly excusing herself. The second the door closes Robert continues “I haven’t heard anything from you for the last four years. You were here one day and completely gone the next. I’ve missed you.” 

“You know what happened. I couldn’t stay.” Your eyes are now watering, and you can’t look at the man you used to consider your father. 

“I don’t agree with what they did, but I do understand.” Anger burns in your stomach and you bite your lip to stop yourself from saying anything. “I tried reaching out once I’d found out, but you never responded.” 

“I couldn’t be around Sam anymore, which meant I couldn’t be around you either. She’s your daughter-”

“You’re my daughter too.” Tears start to fall down your cheeks and Robert moves around the table to stand in front of you. “You may not be blood Y/N, but you were always just as much as a daughter to me as Sammy is.” 

There’s a light knock on the door and Sloane sticks her head in, her face freezing in concern when she notices the tears rolling down your face, you quickly wipe them away. “Everything Ok?” You ask, voice raspy with emotion. 

“Sorry. Torres and McGee are back with Vack. I can tell them you’ll join later?” 

You shake your head “No. I’m coming.” You don’t look at Robert again, ignoring his protests as you follow Sloane out of the room. 

-

Gibbs is already in the observation room when you arrive, watching Torres and McGee conduct the interview. 

“Patrick if you just told me where Samantha is this could all be over,” McGee says. 

“I don’t know where she is! I haven’t even seen her since Friday!” 

“We spoke to one of your colleagues and they said they said they saw you and Samantha arguing that day. Did you finally snap? Decided to teach her a listen?” Torres prods and Vack’s face scrunches up in anger. 

“We had an argument, but it was just about a student.” 

“A student?” The scepticism is clear in McGee’s voice.

“Yeah, she failed my star football player which means he can’t play. I was trying to get her to reconsider but she wouldn’t! I was pissed! Sam and I are friends.” 

“That’s not what her wife says.”

Vack rolls his eyes and smirks “That daft bitch is just threatened that I’m gonna steal away her girl, show her a real good time.” The leer on his face is vile and you want to slap him.

Sloane’s obviously thinking the same thing as she scrunches her face up in disgust from next to you. “What a charming man.”

You snort. “He’s an asshole but I don’t think it’s him. He doesn’t look smart enough to pull this sort of thing off.” Gibbs grunts his agreement from beside you. 

-

“Got anything Kase?” Kasie swings round to face you. Gibbs by your side. 

“Sadly, not much. They took their time sending everything over, so I’ve only just started. There was only one security camera working in the parking lot and the quality is terrible. I’ve cleaned it up as much as I could, but this is all it shows…” The video quality is still pretty shocking, but you can make out Sam. She’s passing a car when a man steps out, baseball cap on to mask his face from the camera and starts talking to her. She goes to move past him but he tasers her, pushing her into the boot of her car. The man quickly moves to the wheel and drives away. Another car drives past after blocking the number plate. Gibbs grunts from beside you.

“Yeah, I know” Kasie sighs “There are no other angles, this was the only camera working.”

“So, we’ve got nothing.” You have to stop yourself from whacking the table in anger, instead, shoving a hand through your hair. 

“There’s still the phone.” Kasie holds up the evidence bag containing the phone, the screen is smashed to pieces. “Give me an hour or so and I’ll have this baby running again.” 

Gibbs sends you to get coffee, you want to fight it, but he just throws you one of his steely gazes and you know it’s not worth it. You're pretty sure it’s to calm you down but it has the exact opposite effect because all you can do is _think_. About Sam. About Robert. About Felicity. About how you thought you were over all this. 

When you get back to the bullpen you’re shaking. “Why haven’t we got anything?” You snap, gaining the team's attention. You drop the cups of coffee on Bishop’s desk instead of handing them out. 

“We’re working as fast as we-” 

“Well, it’s not fast enough! She could be…” you trail off, voice cracking. 

“We’re going to find her Y/N. We just need a bit more time. We’ve only been on the case for half a day.” Bishop tries to soothe you, getting up and placing a hand on your shoulder. You shrug her off, sighing frustratedly as you move to your desk. 

“Sloane’s just sent down the profiles of a few people she believes could have done this from Robert Moore’s cases.” McGee adds “There’s three. You take Florek Y/N.”

Daniel Florek. Sentenced for early release on good behaviour 2 months ago. He only did 11 of his 15-year sentence for armed robbery. Florek’s wife had divorced him and wouldn’t allow their children to see him which definitely gave him the motive to want revenge and resulted in him making threats towards Robert after he’d been found guilty, including to go as far to threaten Sam. He’d shouted some pretty vile things about destroying his family as Robert had destroyed him. You were honestly surprised he’d been released. 

Although according to his prison record he was pretty clean. There had been a few fights at the beginning of his sentence and a couple of stunts leading to solitary. But since he’d basically been a model inmate

Robert had found some threatening letters and sent them over. In Sloane’s report, she highlighted the similarities between one letter and what Florek said in his trial, like how he wanted to ‘shoot Robert’s daughter in the head’ and ‘Beat him black and blue’.

Looking through records you find out Florek lived in DC and actually only worked 20 minutes away from the High School Sam taught at. “Florek would definitely be worth looking further into” you announce to the team, relaying the information you’d just learnt. 

“Peters isn’t. He’s living in Maine and his credit cards have been used there in the last few days.” Bishop supplies. 

“Couldn’t be Davis either” McGee sighs. 

“Ok, so let’s go get Florek. Torres, we’re going to the garage he works at.” You’re already up from your desk, clipping your gun and badge to you and Torres jumps up as well doing the same.

“And Bishop and I will head to his home.” McGee and Bishop grab their stuff, following you to the elevator. 

It’s a 40-minute drive to the garage and you shake the whole time in anticipation. 

“We’ll find her Y/N.” Torres speaks, side-eyeing you as he drives. You sigh. _You had to._ You don’t know how you were going to cope if you didn’t.

“NCIS Special Agents Y/N and Torres” You both flash your badges at the kid sitting at the desk when you enter. “Is Daniel Florek here?” 

“I’ll go get my manager.” The kid, who couldn’t be older than 18, voice shook as he basically ran from the room. Torres chuckled quietly from beside you and a small smile brushed your features. 

A stocky man appears a few minutes later, minus the kid. “You’re looking for Danny? What’s he done?” 

“We need to speak to him. He might have information on a current case. Is he here?” 

“He hasn’t been here for the last few days.” The man shrugs and a satisfied smirk crosses your face.

“Do you know why?” Torres asks.

“His Ma is sick. He spends a lot of time at the hospital with her.” Torres finished up with the manager, while you go outside and phone Bishop.

“He’s not here. Any luck?” You ask when the call connects. 

“We’ve just got here but it doesn’t look like anyone’s home.” Bishop sighs. You informed her about the hospital and as it was closer to her and McGee, Bishop agreed they’ll go check it out. 

You hang up the phone just as Torres exits the building and both head back to base. 

Bishop texts you 30 minutes later telling you they have Florek and will be back at NCIS in the next hour. You breathe a sigh of relief, finally feeling like the case was going somewhere. You’ve just gotten off the elevator and dropped your bag by your desk when your phone pings again.

 _You free? Need your help. In my office._  
It’s Sloane. You shoot back a quick yes before ascending the stairs to her office.

The Blonde is sitting on her couch when you arrive. She looks up instantly “Ah Y/N! You’re here!” She stands up and ushers you into her office, closing the door behind you. 

You stand awkwardly in the middle of the room and can’t help feeling like you’ve just entered a trap. “You texted. Is this going to be quick? Bishop and McGee are nearly here with Florek, and I want to lead the interrogation.”

“Come. Sit.” You hesitate, looking towards the door before turning back to watch Sloane as she sits down. The blonde just raises her eyebrows at you, causing you to huff and take the seat. 

“Well?” 

“I’ve been working on a profile on Samantha.” You tense instantly. “And well, you were her friend…” 

“Yeah ‘was’ being the keyword there. I haven't spoken to her in 4 years.” 

“But you were close. I saw how her father reacted when he saw you.” Sloane prods and you take a shaky breath as your eyes begin to water. 

“Sam and I met at college. She was stubborn, headstrong and oozed money. I didn’t like her.” You laugh as you remember the beginnings of your friendship. Sloane smiles, urging you to continue. “My roommate had ditched me at this party, and I was about to leave when she came stumbling over. She was absolutely wasted and started rambling about how ‘I didn’t like her’ and how ‘I should give her a chance cause she’s an awesome person’ and ‘I think we could be great friends’. I was mortified at the time, but she’d been right. We quickly became inseparable. I’d never had someone who just got me completely.” You wipe at your eyes.

“Sounds like you two were close.” You can hear the underlying question in her words, and you scrunch up your face.

“Oh no! She was basically my sister. It was never like that.” 

“Oh. Sorry.” Sloane laughs sheepishly.

“We got it all the time, especially both being out. Everyone saw two gay girls who were close and assumed.” You shrug “Anyway, years went by. We were still as close as ever, lived together for a bit until we could both afford our own places...Everything was good until it wasn’t.”

“What happened between the two of you?” 

“Well,” you laugh, fiddling with your hands as you pump yourself up to tell the story. “Felicity and I were together for just under a year when they told me they’d been sleeping together.” Sloane doesn’t look surprised but places a comforting hand on your arm “They’d told me they’d been really drunk the first time it had happened but then it happened again. And again. And then they realised that there were feelings involved too.” You huff as your eyes begin to water. “These were two of the people I trusted most in the world! I’d been completely lost, so angry, sad and embarrassed. I felt so betrayed y'know?” 

“That’s terrible.” 

“Yeah...I thought I was over it all but seeing her again so unannounced? It just brought everything back up again.” You shrug, hoping to look unbothered. You pick up your phone quickly checking the time. “Anyway, McGee’s just texted saying they’re nearly here and I want to be in interrogation.” You begin to get up from the couch, but Sloane reaches out and grabs your hand, squeezing lightly. 

“I’m here if you want to talk about this further. I know this isn’t easy.” You offer the blonde a small smile, squeezing her hand back before letting go. 

“Thanks, Jack.” Your phone buzzes for real this time and you see Bishop’s texted you notifying you they’d just arrived. You wish Sloane goodbye before quickly exiting the room. 

Now it was time to find Sam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm unsure how many chapters this is going to be exactly at the moment but I'm aiming for around 10. There was _a lot_ of dialogue this chapter, I don't know what your guys' opinion on that is but I'm hoping it won't be as heavy the rest of the story. It was just required this chapter to set the story up.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed, as always feedback is always appreciated and I hope you'll follow the story :)


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The search for Samantha Walden continues.

“Finally! I’ve been in here forever.” Florek complains the second you enter interrogation with McGee. You roll your eyes. The man hadn’t even been sitting there for 15 minutes. Neither of you says anything as you make your way to the table, sitting down and dropping the case file. You glare at Florek and he shuffles slightly in his seat. “What’s this about?” 

“Why don’t you tell us?” McGee prompts and Florek just narrows his eyes. 

“You’re the ones who dragged me away from my sick mother's bedside!” 

“Robert Moore” You speak and Florek grounds his teeth, fist tightening in anger on the table. “You know him?” You smirk, opening the case file you begin to slowly flick through it before stopping suddenly. “Oh, that’s right. He’s the man who sent you to prison.” 

Florek doesn’t say anything but you can hear his foot tapping from underneath the table. You pull out the letter Sloane had thought could possibly be from Florek and place it in front of him. “Seems like you have a lot of anger about it.” 

Florek barely looks at the letter, “I didn’t send that.” 

You point out a couple of lines. “And yet these are almost an exact copy of the words you shouted at Moore when you were found guilty...Anyway, it doesn’t really matter if you admit to it if you were ever even in the vicinity of that letter our forensic scientist will find it.” Kasie had actually already looked over the letter and there was no DNA evidence connecting him to it, but he didn’t need to know that. 

Florek shuffled in his seat again looking between the two of you. You just raised your eyebrow at him. 

“You had to make him suffer right? I mean he sent you to Prison.” McGee begins. Trying to goad the man into saying something incriminating. “He’s the reason your wife left and took away your children.” Florek’s fists tighten harder and he glares at McGee. 

“Damn right. Asshole deserves to have a little fear in him.” Florek smirks proudly. _Gotcha_.

“So that’s why you kidnapped his daughter right? To teach him a lesson.”

Florek’s eyes widened in surprise “Whoa! What? No way! No one said anything about kidnapping!” 

“I mean I understand wanting to make him suffer. It’s ok...You just need to tell us where she is before this goes any further” You soothe. 

“Are you guys crazy! I didn’t kidnap anyone!” Florek’s spluttering now, desperate for you both to believe him. 

“Then tell us where you were at around 2 pm on Sunday.” You cross your arms across your chest, leaning back in your chair.

“I was at the hospital like I am every day! There’s gotta be cameras, there right? You can check that! I didn’t do this!” It was your turn to ground your teeth in annoyance.

\--

“Fuck sake!” You shout, wringing your hands, as the door to interrogation closes behind you.

“There isn’t a guarantee he’s innocent. We’ll get Kasie to check the footage.” Bishop tries to soothe you as she exits the observation room and comes to join you and McGee.

“You saw his face. He’s innocent and now we’re back to having zero suspects!” Bishop reaches her hand out to your arm, but you step away. “I’m going to go see if Kasie has anything.” You’re already walking away but you still hear the sigh McGee releases. 

Kasie’s office is empty when you get down there, all the lights and computers turned off. You frown, pulling out your phone to text her. 

_Hey. I’m here for an update on the phone? Where are you?_

The reply is almost instant. 

_Gone home. The phone was a lot more damaged than I expected. Turns out it had fallen into a puddle. Leaving it in rice overnight. Should have an update by the time you get to the office tomorrow._

You sigh, jamming your phone back into your pocket and head back to the bullpen. It’s just after 7 now and the office is basically empty apart from the team. 

“Alright. Everyone home. We’ll pick up tomorrow.” Gibbs speaks as you enter. The other three go-to move but hesitate when they see you.

“Go home? Sam’s still out there!” You protest outraged. How many times has Gibbs made you all stay here all night with a case like this? 

“There’s nothing else to be done tonight.” 

“We could go through records-”

“It’s all been done Y/N. Go home. Get some rest.” Gibbs is turning off his own computer now and the rest of the team begin to do the same. 

You shake your head. “Unbelievable.” Turning off your own computer and grabbing your stuff you run off to the elevator and descending before the rest of the team can move.

\--

You toss and turn the whole night unable to relax. Memories of Sam play through your head continuously and you end up pulling out an old photo album and looking through photos of the pair of you from back at college. All it does is make your heart hurt and before you know it your sobbing deeply, hardly able to breathe.

All of this was too much. You didn’t know what you’d do if Sam wasn’t found. But when she is, what will the fallout be? Seeing her again...you didn’t know if you could do it. You wish none of this had happened.

You eventually put the album back away and try to go back to sleep. You only manage a couple of hours before you’re awake again. You give up on sleep, instead deciding to get up and shower. It’s not even 6 am. 

There’s no point in hanging around your house so you instead go to work, stopping at your favourite coffee shop on the way to grab a drink and your favourite breakfast snack. You're ridiculously early so you aren’t surprised the rest of the team isn’t in, but you spot Kasie’s car and after dropping your bag off at your desk, and throwing away your now empty coffee cup, you head to the lab. 

“Morning Kase.” You smile at the woman who was currently drinking her own coffee. 

“Hey! You’re here early.” Kasie jumps slightly turning around to face you. 

“Yeah. Couldn’t sleep.” You shrug ignoring the sad smile Kasie offers you. “Could say the same for you.” 

“Wanted to get the phone sorted, and you’re in luck by the way!” Kasie turns to the phone sitting on the table in front of her and you come and stand beside her. “Samantha’s been getting a lot of hang-up calls over the last month and there was this…” Kasie clicks a voicemail on the phone. It’s quiet but after a second or two, you can hear deep male breathing. 

You frown and Kasie pauses it. “Yeah, it’s just that for a minute or so before it disconnects.” 

“So, you are thinking a stalker? Any way to track it?” 

“It seems possible.” Kasie shrugs. “The phone is turned off but if it does turn back on again, we’ll definitely be able to.” 

You thank Kasie and head back up to the bullpen. You’re just sitting down at your desk when your phone rings. You don’t recognise the number. 

“Special Agent Y/N.” 

“Hey Y/N.” You instantly still, swallowing roughly at Felicity’s voice. “Sorry for phoning so early but do you have an update on Sam?” You can hear the anxiety and tiredness in her voice, and you know she probably got even less sleep than you last night. 

“We ruled out a few people. Did Sam mention getting hang-up calls over the last month?” 

You can hear the surprise in Felicity’s voice when she speaks. “No, she never mentioned anything. Do you think it could be connected?” 

“It’s definitely a-”

“Oh, would you shut up!” Felicity hisses and your eyes widen in surprise. 

“ _Excuse me?_ " 

“That wasn’t at you, sorry. There’s been this weird beeping noise around the house the last week or so and I’ve got no idea where it’s coming from.” Felicity sighs.

“Did anyone ever come and check your house?” 

“No. Honestly I'm sure it’s nothing, just batteries that need changing somewhere.” 

“Let’s be sure ok? Once the team gets in, we’ll come over and do a sweep.” Felicity agrees and ends the call. You spend the next half hour finishing the report on Daniel Florek’s interrogation yesterday and it’s not long before people start filing into the building. 

Sloane appears first not at all surprised to see you sitting at your desk. She passes you a cup of fresh coffee. “Didn’t know how you took it, so I brought milk and sugar sachets too” 

“Thanks” you smile, taking the outstretched sachets, you tip in one milk and then three sugars and then look to Sloane who’s perched herself on the side of your desk. 

“Ah! A fellow sugar lover” The blonde laughs. “I was sure you’d already be here. Did you get any sleep last night?” She asks laughter now replaced with concern. 

“A few hours.” You answer truthfully, rolling your eyes as her concern increases. You both continue to chat for a bit, and it isn’t long before the rest of the team begins to file in. 

Torres is just putting down his bag, the last to arrive, when you tell the team about your conversation with Felicity and also Kasie. “Ok. McGee, Y/N. Let’s go.” Gibbs signals, standing from his desk. Torres breathes a sigh of relief flopping into his chair and Ellie just rolls her eyes at him. 

“Mind if I tag along as well?” Sloane looks between you and Gibbs. 

“Whatever Jack” Gibbs shrugs. The blonde mutters something under her breath. You don’t quite catch it, but you see her roll her eyes which prompts you to smother a laugh. She looks at you, her face lightening into her own smile before tapping your desk and standing up. “Ok. Let’s go!”

\--

You were grateful they’d moved to a new house, unsure how you’d cope with going to a place that held so many memories. You all separate through the house; you take the living room and Felicity stands by the door as you search.

It’s a lovely house, simplistic with lots of flashes of bright colours and so very Sam and Felicity. You can’t help but walk over to the photo frames filling one of the walls. Your eyes widen in surprise when you fall on an old photo of you and Sam at graduation. That ache in your chest is back and you quickly look away, clearing your throat and focusing properly on the room. 

You start looking through the shelves and you frown noticing a small camera hidden in amongst some trinkets. Just as you grab it McGee shouts from another room “Got a camera!” 

After everyone’s finished searching there’s a combination of 7 devices, mostly cameras but also a couple of listening devices as well. Each one is bagged up and McGee heads back to base to get them to Kasie. 

“I can’t believe it…” Felicity’s in shock and Sloane reaches out, placing a calming hand on her shoulder. 

“Can you think of anyone who had access to your house over the last few months?” 

“That would do this? I’ve got no idea!” 

“Fe” You sigh and then immediately clear your throat at the use of her nickname, Felicity’s eyes snap to yours and she offers a weak smile “Just think...it could be anyone? Have you had any work done in the house recently?” 

Felicity’s eyes light up “Oh! We had a plumber a couple of months ago. He came over two or three times because he had to do work in our bathroom, but I never met him, Sam dealt with it all.” Felicity begins to rummage through a filing cupboard. “I should have something with their business name on...Ah-ha!” She pulls out a letter, bringing it over and handing it to you.

“Brody’s Plumbing” You read “Ok, we’ll check them out.” 

You turn to leave “Wait!” Felicity speaks and you turn back to face her. She bites her lip nervously “A-are you sure you’ve got all the devices?”

Your gaze softens “Yes but go stay with Robert if you don’t feel safe here.” Felicity nods “Do you want someone to wait while you pack a bag?” 

“No, it’s fine” Felicity shakes her head. “Just go find her.” You reach out, squeezing the woman's hand lightly, before turning and following Gibbs and Sloane out of the building. 

Now with only one car as McGee had taken the other all 3 of you head to the plumbers. You text McGee to let him know and he tells you he’ll get Bishop and Torres to start looking into it, he’s just got back and going to join Kasie with the cameras.

\--

It’s a short drive and when you enter the building you find an employee straight away “NCIS” You, Gibbs and Sloane all-flash your badges. “Who is the manager?”

“You’re talking to him! Brody Kilmer” The large man holds out his hand to shake, a wide smile on his face. “How can I help you guys?” The man leads you all to his office. 

“We need to speak to one of your employee’s. The man who worked on Samantha and Felicity Walden's house a few months ago.” 

“Sure, let me look it up.” The man turns to his computer and you begin to tap your foot impatiently. Your eyes turn to Gibbs who gives you a look that clearly says _calm down_. Your foot freezes and you turn back to look at Brody. “Ah” The man finally says, and you notice how he clears his throat awkwardly “Stephen Humphrey is the man you’re looking for, but he no longer works here.” 

“Why is that?” Sloane speaks from next to you. 

“There was an issue a couple of weeks ago, a client complained that they’d caught Stephen going through their bedroom. I’d confronted him about it, and he flipped out. I fired him.”

“Were there any other incidents like this?” Gibbs asks. 

“No, but if I’m being honest, he did give off a creepy vibe.” 

“Do you have his address?” Brody looks it up on his computer, reading it out to you all. You search up the location in your phone and discover its only 30 minutes away.

\--

Your phone rings just as Gibbs sets the car to drive. “Y/N” You answer.

“It’s McGee. We’ve traced the cameras to the house of-”

“Stephen Humphrey. Yeah, we’re heading there now. Humphrey was the plumber.” 

“Right” McGee chuckles. You hear Kasie’s distorted voice over the line and McGee then changes to speakerphone. 

“Stephen Humphrey. Never been arrested-” You set your own phone to speakerphone so Sloane and Gibbs can hear “-although he has multiple restraining orders. The most recent one being from an ex-girlfriend last year.” 

“Any reports of violence?” Sloane asks from her seat in the front. 

“None but he’s known to have a temper.” You say goodbye to McGee and Kasie and end the call and not long later you’re pulling up outside Humphreys house. Guns drawn Gibbs instructs you go around the back of the house in case he tries to run, Gibbs and Sloane will enter through the front.

“Stephen Humphrey. NCIS, open up!” You hear Gibbs yell. There’s no response and you can’t see or hear any movement from inside. Gibbs knocks in the front door and you do the same to the back door. You hear Gibbs and Sloane both shout ‘clear!’ as they check the house.

You enter the last room, the bedroom, and falter in shock at Humphrey’s walls. You quickly clear the room, shouting out ‘got something!’ and going back to standing in the middle of the room to focus on the wall. The whole wall is covered with surveillance photos of Sam. They’re in a range of locations, her house, school, just on the streets and even a few from the outside of Robert’s house. 

“Oh wow,” Sloane says when she enters the room, Gibbs is behind her and looks equally stunned. 

“He hasn’t been here for a few days,” Gibbs says, and you lift your eyebrows in question. “Gone off take-out and the mail’s started to collect.” 

“Right cause they can never make it easy.” You sigh. The three of you make quick work of photographing and collecting the evidence. There are more photos dotted around the house, also the hard drives and computer where he’d been storing all the surveillance footage from Sam and Felicity’s home. 

When you get back to the office it’s lunchtime. Sloane disappears back to her office and you stop in the break room to grab a snack from the vending machine, it would have to do for now. You’re just arriving back to the bullpen when Gibbs barks “Update” He’s got coffee and you’re wondering when he had the time because it’s not the shitty stuff from the office. You walk over to stand next to him as you all congregate around the screen and Gibbs shoves another cup of coffee into your hands. You smile up at him gratefully before turning your attention to the screen as McGee begins to talk. 

He informs you all that the BOLO had been issued and that him and Kasie had finished going through the cameras, they didn’t get any new information, just proof that they were Humphrey’s as his fingerprints were all over them and also that they’d been filming for about 8 weeks, so from when they hired him to fix their bathroom. Bishop confirms the hang-up calls started the same time as when Humphrey was fired from his job, probably the trigger for the escalation. 

“Family?” Gibbs asks and Torres quickly begins to speak. 

“No siblings and his father died 10 years ago to cancer. So just his mother, however, she’s living in a care home in DC. She moved there last year but before that, she was living with Humphrey.”

“No other properties?” You ask, biting your lip anxiously. 

“There’s a storage unit the mother owned but unsure if it’s still hers. Waiting for the business to phone me back...” Gibbs just stares at Torres “...Or I could phone them again now.” Torres spins around and grabs his office phone. 

While Torres is doing that Bishop informs you all that he owns a handgun. You didn’t find it at the house which meant it was almost definitely with him. 

“They own the storage locker, the man on the desk said he’s seen Humphrey going back and forth over the last week,” Torres speaks, hanging up the phone. Everyone quickly jumps into action then and less than 5 minutes later you’re on the way to the storage unit. 

You all quickly make your way down the aisles of units, silently stopping around the corner to see if you can see anything. The unit door is closed but you can see it’s unlocked. McGee and Torres get ready to lift the door, while the rest of you stand to the side just in case. 

“NCIS” is shouted as the doors open and immediately a bullet flies forwards, it hits the wall missing you all. You finally turn the corner to see the room and your eyes immediately fall to Sam who whimpers, tears falling down her face. Her wrists and ankles are strapped to a chair. You can’t see her injuries too well from the lighting, but you can tell she’s covered in bruises and there a deep bloody wound on her head. You can tell she’s been trying to fight back the entire time. 

Humphrey is crouching behind Sam to avoid giving any of you a line of shot. He’s got a gun in one hand pointed towards all of you and a knife in the other held tightly against Sam’s throat. 

“Put down the gun Stephen. We can all walk out of here alive if you put the gun down.” Bishop speaks, As you and Torres try to shuffle to the side of the room in hopes of finding a better angle.

Sam’s only half-conscious, her head wobbling side to side. You just needed her to drop her head and you’d have a line of shot. Humphrey notices Torres moving closer and turns the gun to him. “Stop moving. I’ll shoot!” Torres stills but you take another step forward. The man turns to look at you before holding the gun to the ceiling and shooting. “I said stop!” 

Everyone stills and Bishop is back to soothing the man and you can see him beginning to calm down, the knife in his hand has lowered slightly to the base of Sam’s neck. Humphrey still has the gun trained in the direction of the team. His head pokes to the side of Sam’s, giving Torres and McGee a line of shot. 

One of them shoots. Humphrey jerks, his hand tightening on the knife and slamming into Sam before he falls backwards. Sam screams and blood exits her mouth causing her to choke. You run towards her, belting your gun and fall to your knees, your hands apply pressure around the knife still in her neck to try and slow the bleeding. 

There are tears streaming down your face. “I’ve got you, Sam, just stay awake ok? I’ve got you.” Sam's head begins to roll forward and you abandon your hold on her neck to her head to stop it from falling and hope the movement doesn’t make the damage worse. She’s still choking on blood and your hands shake as she struggles to say your name. 

“I’ve got you. I’ve got you.” You repeat over and over again in a mantra. Someone has untied Sam from the chair and her hand reaches out to weakly grip your arm. You bite your lip hard to stop a sob escaping your mouth. 

What feels like hours, but in reality is only a couple minutes, someone grabs your shoulder and tugs lightly.

“Let go Y/N. The EMT’s have her.” You shakily stand up and step back, a hand immediately coming to replace your own around Sam’s head. 

They stabilise the knife in a neck before transferring her onto a gurney. You turn around and realise the person who’d been supporting your shaking body was Gibbs, his hand drops from your shoulder. 

“I’ve-I’ve...” There are still tears rolling down your face, and your hands and clothes are covered in blood. You don’t know what to do as you stutter looking between Gibbs, your own hands, and Sam, who the EMT’s are beginning to wheel from the room. 

“Go.” Gibbs nods. You needed to contact Felicity and Robert. “We’ll call them. Go Y/N.” 

You nod weakly and run after the gurney. Swallowing deeply as you jump into the back of the ambulance, you grab Sam’s hand squeezing tightly. She’s passed out now. “You’ve got to make it Sammy. Ok? Fe and Dad, they need you.” Sam starts coding and you jump back in your seat as the EMT begins CPR. Tears continue to stream down your face as you try to choke back your strangled sobs. _She had to make it. She had too._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ay completed the second chapter in less than 2 weeks! Who'd of thought, not me! 
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed and continue to follow the story! I love your guys' comments and as always, feedback is always welcome! :)
> 
> This chapter isn’t as Jack filled as I’d like but I promise that in future chapters you’ll get a lot more Jack/Reader content!


	3. Chapter Three

You stand in the middle of the room, oblivious to the people rushing past you. You can’t move, eyes glued to the door that Sam was just wheeled through. You don’t know how long you’d been standing there and are only jolted into movement when you hear Robert call your name. You turn around and Felicity releases a strangled sob the second she sees you, her eyes focused on your clothes. You look down and are reminded of the blood covering you. 

“Is-is that Sams?” Robert asks wobbly and you nod robotically as Felicity continues to cry. A nurse rushes over to you talking about cleaning you up as you were scaring the other patients. You follow her blindly. She directs you to a bathroom and supplies you with clothes to change into before vanishing again. When you enter you’re immediately met with a mirror. You look almost ghostly, all colour drained from your face. You’ve still got your bulletproof vest on, which was covered with the most blood. You peel it off, shoving it into the plastic bag that you’d been provided with. Next was your shirt and trousers, blood had seeped through onto them so they landed in the bag as well. You quickly wash your hands and arms, before splashing water on your face to help bring you back to reality, and put on the light blue scrubs you’d been given.

Felicity and Robert are sitting down in the waiting room when you enter. Felicity’s sobs have subsided and she’s sitting with her head resting against Robert’s shoulder. You go and sit down in the chair opposite them, giving you a perfect view of the door the doctor would eventually emerge from. 

“Is he dead?” Robert asks. You nod. “Good.” 

Nothing else is said, everyone sitting in their own thoughts. Your leg is shaking as you think over the last hour. Sam had coded twice in the ambulance journey over and the image of her limp body was going to be ingrained in your mind forever. You’re only brought out of your thoughts when a hand taps your arm, looking up you’re surprised to see Sloane standing in front of you, she hands you a cup of coffee, giving Felicity and Robert one too before coming to sit down next to you.

“Gibbs and the others are collecting all the evidence at the scene. They wanted to be here too.” Sloane offers. You don’t say anything, just nod and take a sip from your cup, it’s just how you like it. 

The blonde sits silently next to you, and you’re grateful for her presence as it helps you to keep calm. Anytime you begin to get restless, she offers a distraction or just places a comforting hand on your arm to still you and remind you to breathe. 

Felicity had fallen asleep, still resting on Robert’s shoulder but you could see the man himself was beginning to get agitated. Sloane must notice too as she announces she’s going to find someone and see if she can get an update. You get up and move to sit next to Robert, who reaches out and grips your hand tightly in his. Your eyes immediately begin to water and you blow out air in an attempt to calm yourself. You sit like that for a while.

“Are you the family of Samantha Walden?” A doctor asks, coming to stop in front of the three of you. Felicity jolts awake, quickly standing up and you and Robert do the same. 

“Felicity Walden, Sam’s wife. Is she ok?” Felicity asks, extending a hand to the doctor. 

“When Samantha arrived at the hospital, she had a stab wound to the neck, a head contusion and was badly bruised. Because the knife was still in her neck it slowed the bleeding and luckily only nicked both the artery and trachea meaning we were able to repair both. However, after a CT scan, we discovered Samantha had an epidural hematoma, her brain swelled and caused her to seize before we could return to surgery. I’m really sorry to inform you that Samantha has died.” 

_NO. NO. This isn't happening. NO._

You’re distantly aware of Felicity’s screams but you’re focused on holding back your own tears as you take shaky breaths. You might be sick. This couldn’t be happening. Any moment now the doctor was going to inform you that Sam was fine, that this was just some fucked up joke. Right? 

Robert was sitting down again, his head in his hands as tears rolled down his face. The doctor had excused himself and Felicity was walking round in circles manically. You let your tears fall, making no effort to wipe them from your face. 

“This is your fault.” Felicity spits. You jerk backwards, surprised her venom was directed at you. “You were supposed to save her Y/N and you didn’t.” Felicity continues to advance towards you, her voice shaking. “You didn’t and now she’s dead-”

“I did everyth-”

Felicity slaps you. Hard. The noise rings out loudly in the room and you’re aware that people are starting to stare. Your hand flies to your face as you hold your flaming cheek. 

And then suddenly Sloane appears, stepping between you and Felicity. “That’s enough.” Her voice is strong and dangerous and from the way Felicity steps back you know she’s got that dangerous glint in her eye. Robert moves as well, grabbing hold of Felicity and pulling her away. Sloane spins around to face you. “Are you ok?” 

“Yeah, it’s fine.” You shrug, your voice thick with emotion. “Anyway, she’s kind of right. I was meant to save her.”

Before Sloane can say anything Robert’s speaking, having sent Felicity off to get some air. “It’s not your fault. You got her out of there. You found her.” Sloane steps out of the way, allowing Robert to pull you into a tight hug. Your tears fall and you shake gripping onto Robert with everything you had. 

“It’s going to be ok.” He soothes, his hand running over your head and you can tell he’s trying to convince himself as much as he’s trying to convince you. “It’s going to be ok.”

**\--**

When you get off the elevator the next morning a silence immediately rushes over the team. Torres is the first to stand and make his way over to you. He ducks his head, stopping in front of you. You’d never seen him like this.

“I’m really sorry. I should have waited to take the shot, I didn’t realise the knife was so close to-”

You cut him off, gripping his hand tightly as you offer a small smile. “That wasn’t why she died.” 

“But-”

“Her brain swelled too much. They were able to repair the damage from the knife.” Torres releases a breath before pulling you into a tight hug and apologising again. 

“You shouldn’t be here Y/N. Go home.” Gibbs says, barely sparing you a glance as he enters the room and makes his way to his desk. You pull back from Torres’ hug and walk over to him. 

“I’m fine Gibbs, I can work-” Gibbs sighs. 

“Go home Y/N. Grieve and start again next week.” That’s exactly what you didn’t want to do. You try to tell Gibbs you have paperwork to do but he dismisses that and tells you McGee was handling it all. You sigh, out of protests but instead of going home you head down to autopsy. 

Jimmy’s sitting at his desk working on his own work when you enter. “Is his body here?” Jimmy doesn’t need to ask who’s and just leads you over to the draw Humphrey was tucked away in, the autopsy already complete. Jimmy excuses himself, leaving the room to give you time. 

You stare at the cold dead body in front of you. The gunshot wound on his head stood out against his pale body. Part of you was happy the man was dead, but another part of you wishes he was alive so you could watch him rot in prison for his crimes. The darker part of you just wanted him to be alive just so you could shoot him yourself, or maybe just beat the living shit out of him. Make him feel the pain he’d inflicted on Sam. 

You’re only pulled from your thoughts when you hear the door open, Sloane enters, walking over to you and you huff a tired laugh. “Jimmy?” You ask, unsurprised when she nods her head.

“And Ellie. The whole team is worried about you.” Sloane stops opposite you, the body of Humphrey between you both. 

“It doesn’t seem real. I hadn’t spoken to her in four years and as sad as I am, I also feel disconnected from it all, I could just fall into an illusion that she’s alive and well and still the girl that betrayed me.” 

Sloane offers you a sad smile and you look up to the ceiling, blinking away frustrated tears. “It’s not fair. She didn’t deserve this. You know after I first learnt about the affair I wished death on them. Is this some sick karma?” You laugh, wiping at your eyes. 

“It’s never fair but this isn’t your fault, you know that right? It’s Stephen Humphrey’s fault.” Sloane signals to the body in between you. You sigh, leaning against the wall of units and Sloane pushes Humphrey back into the unit, shutting the door firmly before coming to stand in front of you. “It’s not your fault.” 

Tears are silently falling down your cheeks now and you huff out a breath of air. “I just feel so guilty. I should have been able to save her.” Your voice cracks and Sloane pulls you into a hug. Your head rests on her shoulder as you cry silently and Sloane whispers calming words.

**\--**

You knock on the door, holding a warm plate. After getting back home it didn’t take long for you to be consumed by your thoughts, so you decide to make your favourite comfort food to distract yourself - mac and cheese. You make three large dishes, one for yourself, one for Felicity and another for Robert, you knew neither of them would be focused on eating and wanted to do something to help. Robert hadn’t answered when you visited so you head to Felicity's.

“What are you doing here Y/N?” Felicity’s hair is a mess, dark circles shine brightly on her face and the evidence of her crying clear. 

“I um, made some mac and cheese. Just preheat it in the oven whenever and If you need anything, I’m just a phone-”

“I don’t want anything from you.” 

“I know you don’t like people helping you-”

“No. You’re not listening. I don’t want anything from _you_.” 

You take a step backwards, averting your gaze. Right, you hadn’t expected that. “Ok. Well here take the mac and cheese.” Felicity hesitates but takes the outstretched bowl of food. “And I’ll see you at the funeral.” 

“No.”

“What?”

“I can’t have you there. Please. You didn’t…” Felicity trails off looking away but you understand _You didn’t save her_.

“Right okay.” You swallow roughly, backing away from the house and to your car. You’ve barely shut the door before you’re breaking down into sobs. Hot tears roll down your cheeks as you struggle to control your breathing. _You didn’t save her. You should have saved her_ runs through your head over and over. You hold a hand over your mouth to muffle your loud sobs. Nothing about this would ever be ok.

**\--**

You stare at the boxes that now surround you, unsure which one to start with. After you’d calmed yourself down enough to drive home you’d spent the next hour grabbing all your old boxes from your attic and carrying them down to your living room in search of memories with Sam. You hadn’t touched any of them since you’d moved in a few years before and you’re just grateful you hadn’t destroyed everything in rage.

You grab the closest box to you and open it up, dust immediately bursts out and you break into a coughing fit. “Oh god,” You choke, waving your hand in front of your face to dispel the dust in the air. 

You spend the next few hours reliving memories. Your days at college, holidays you’d taken together, memories from your first apartment together all them years ago. You find loads of photo albums, old trinkets and souvenirs and even a few t-shirts from college. 

You're pulled from your thoughts by your phone ringing from next to you. You quickly wipe away your tears, sniffing and clear your throat before you answer the phone. It’s Sloane. “Hey” Your voice is still rough and you wince.

“Hi, just calling to check-in, I wanted to make sure you were okay after our conversation earlier.”

“Yeah, I'm alright, just been going through old boxes for memory’s of Sam.” You look up at the clock on your wall and surprised to see it’s already 6 pm. “Have you finished for the day?” 

“Yep. No cases for your team today and the profiles I did for Warrick I finished, so I’ve got a whole evening free!” Sloane laughs and you join in, aware of the rarity of that. 

“Any plans for it?” 

“Well, I’m going to assume you haven’t eaten yet?” She doesn’t wait for a response and continues talking. “We can talk about Sam? Not talk about her. I don’t mind, I just thought you could use a friend.” 

You contemplate turning down the offer but the thought of not being alone the whole evening felt nice and a distraction would be good. The silence must stretch for too long as Sloane quickly begins talking again “If you’d rather be alone I understand, I just wanted to offer which I guess in hindsight might be weird it’s not like we meet up outside of work just the two of us, well actually, ever.” She releases a small self-deprecating laugh and continues to talk.

You’d never met up just the two of you? That can’t be, right? You think back over the last year of working together and are surprised (And somewhat ashamed) that she’s actually correct. You’d met up plenty of time with the team and even with just her and Ellie but never just the two of you...

“Sure the company would be nice.” You cut off her ramble, withholding the chuckle you want to release. 

Sloane breathes a sigh of relief. “Good because I’m outside and I’ve got Pizza.” She hangs up and your jaw drops in shock before you start laughing, you’re still laughing when you get up and open your door. 

The smell of pizza wafts into your face and your stomach immediately rumbles. You hadn’t noticed just how hungry you were. “Do you usually call someone from outside their house?” You laugh, ushering the woman into your apartment and back towards your living room. “Excuse the mess.” You push a couple of boxes to the side of the room and pull your coffee table closer to the couch so you can both sit and eat.

Sloane places the box on the table, before taking a seat and you sit down next to her, tucking your feet underneath you. “Done it to Gibbs a couple of times and also Ellie once.” Sloane laughs and you roll your eyes. 

“Now what Pizza did you get?” You open the box, surprised to see it’s your favourite. Your expression must reflect as much as Sloane releases a cheer, dancing slightly in her seat. “Impressive” you laugh. You pick up a slice and lean back comfortably on the couch, Sloane does the same. 

“I’m glad I’m right because this is my favourite too.” Sloane smiles, taking a bite from the greasy pizza. Her gaze wanders to the boxes littered around the room. “Do you mind?” She asks, signalling to the picture frames you had sitting to the side. 

“Not at all.” Sloane places the pizza back in the box, reaching for one of the napkins you had on the table to wipe the grease from her fingers before picking up one of the photo frames. It’s one of you and Sam at graduation, the same one that you’d seen hanging in her house. 

“Are you looking for photos for her funeral?” Sloane asks, and when you hesitate looking away from her, her face instantly clouds with concerned confusion. 

“Umm...” You laugh uneasily. “I’m not going to the funeral anymore.” 

“What? Why?” 

“Felicity doesn’t want me there.” You shrug. 

“And what about Robert?” 

“I haven’t spoken to him. But Felicity is- _was_ Sam’s wife, I’ve got to honour that.” 

“Alright.” Sloane sighs, but you can tell she doesn’t really agree. “You need to do something though. A memorial of your own. A way to say goodbye, to forgive yourself.” Sloane places her hand on your arm, squeezing slightly and you offer a small smile. 

“I’ll think about it.” She nods her head, letting the discussion drop. 

You talk for a while and it’s not long until Sloane has kicked off her heels, moving to the floor with her legs outstretched and ankles crossed, going through one of your boxes. You watch from your seat on the couch. Sloane breaks out into laughter when she picks up one of the photo frames. She can’t say anything as she’s busy laughing but turns the frame around for you to see and your face immediately heats up. “What?” You say defensively.

The photo was from a college party you went to where the theme was ‘food’. You and your friends had decided to go as different fruits, only you didn’t get the memo that everyone meant cute and sexy (which in hindsight should have been obvious - it was a college party!) and you dressed up in one of them oversized strawberry costumes, paired with hideous green tights and a stalk hat. 

Sloane begins to calm down, but when she looks at you again she starts all over again.  
A small smile spreads across your face as you roll your eyes. “Oh if the team ever got their hands on this…” 

“Don’t you dare!” You jump up in your seat, reaching for the photo frame which Sloane holds out of your grasp. Chuckling, she passes back the frame at your panicked expression. 

It’s 10 o’clock before you realise it, Sloane seems surprised herself. “I should be going.” She gets up from the floor, slipping her heels back on. You walk her to your door. 

“Thank you for this evening, Jack.” A wide smile spreads across her face. “I still can’t believe this is the first time we’ve met outside of work, just the two of us, we should do it more often.” Your own smile appears. 

“I’d like that.” Her smile dips and she reaches out to grab your arm. “Seriously do consider doing a memorial thing for Sam. I think it’ll really help and if you want people there to support you the whole team would be there in an instant.” 

You offer a weak smile. “I’ll think about it.” She squeezes your arm slightly before stepping back, Jack offers one last goodbye and then she’s walking down the pathway of your house and to her car. You lock the door and head back to your living room. You grab your phone, clear away the pizza box and head to your room, feeling much more relaxed, sadness now a dull ache, it doesn’t take long for you to fall asleep.

**\--**

You drop off the mac & cheese for Robert, you don’t stay, only chatting enough to let him know if he needs anything to contact you. You spend the rest of your time rifling through the boxes, collecting your favourites together to place in a small memory box to keep in your living room. You also hang the photo up of you two from the vacation you went on to LA before returning all the boxes to your attic.

Everyone in the team sends you multiple messages to check-in and Jimmy even drops by to drop off a bowl of soup that Ducky had made you. Bishop invites you out for lunch on the weekend and McGee and Torres tag along as well. 

It feels odd going back to work. Just picking up a new case and continuing on, everything felt so different and yet the same. You fall back into a routine quickly though and enjoy having something to keep your mind occupied. You end up working that weekend, due to catching a case Friday afternoon. You’re just about to interrogate a suspect when your phone rings...It’s Robert. You gulp and Gibbs notices. He sends you off and you flash him a grateful smile before heading off to an unused office to take the call. 

“Hey, Robert.” You answer, chewing on your lip anxiously. You wander around the room unable to keep still. 

“Hi Y/N.” He clears his throat. “Sammy’s funeral is going to be next Saturday.” He starts rattling off details about location and time but you cut him off. 

“Does Felicity know I’ve been invited?” 

“What? I haven’t spoken to her about it, but I’m sure she-”

“She’s asked me not to come and I don’t want to make a scene…” You sigh trailing off. 

“But you were her best friend-”

“It’s ok. Really, I’ll still come to visit Sam and then you don’t have to be worried-” 

“No! Sammy would want you there…” 

“Just speak to Felicity and then just let me know what you both agree on.” Your eyes water and you quickly blink the tears away before they can escape. You clear your throat. “I’m at work so I should be going.” You both wish each other goodbye, Robert promising to sort everything out but you aren’t holding your breath. 

He phones back that evening. Felicity is adamant that you can’t be there. Robert sounds lost and helpless and you ensure him it’s fine. You only fight the tears long enough to end the call.

You think over what Jack said, about doing your own memorial for Sam and it doesn’t take long for you to finally decide what to do. You pack a bag and jump in your car. It takes about an hour to get there and the minute you step out of the car you shiver forgetting how cold the air was around here. 

You grab a jumper from the back of your car, slipping it on and putting on your backpack you look out at the trees surrounding you. You can hear the distant crashes of water and feel yourself relax as all the memory’s swarm back. 

You and Sam had visited Great Falls National Park for the first time in your second year of college after a stressful day of exams. It didn’t take long for it to become a frequent hangout when everything got too much in life. You went there with Sam on the anniversary of her mum’s death. She spoke about her for hours, telling you how beautiful and amazing she was and you held her when she cried. You came on good days too, went hiking, had picnics and just relaxed. There was a bridge you’d both sit on, listening to the water rush beneath you and the trees whistling. 

You smile, tears rolling down your face, as you walk the familiar path through the trees. You stop once you reach the bridge. Taking a deep breath and breathing in the air. The sun was just beginning to set, the oranges and pinks highlighting the sky. You open your bag, carefully pulling out the balloon you’d already pumped with helium. You grab your marker pen and begin to write.

“ _Sam. I’ll always love you. Rest well with your mum. Love your sister, Y/N_.” You draw a heart after your name and stare at your message as your tears continue to stream down your face. 

You eventually let go of the balloon, watching it float away and it isn’t until the sun finally disappears that you rise from the floor. You shiver as you walk back to your car, it was cold enough that you could see your breath dancing in the air. You whack up the heating the second you get into your car to warm yourself up. Your teeth are chattering when you look at your phone. You hadn’t checked it since you’d arrived. 

Your phone lights up with text notifications from both Bishop and Gibbs. The whole team was meeting at Gibbs’ for a poker evening. Your face widens in joy and a warmth settles into your heart. You shot them both a quick text promising you’d be there within the hour and put your car into drive. Already getting excited at the prospect of an evening with your family.

(And maybe also at getting the chance to trash their arses.)


	4. Chapter Four

It’s been just over 2 months now since Sam was killed. You haven’t spoken to Felicity since that day you went to visit her but you still speak to Robert. You try to meet up with him every couple of weeks for lunch and you’ve been slowly rebuilding the relationship you once had.

Work has been surprisingly quiet for the whole week, and everyone is taking full advantage of it. You’ve been out of the office by 7 pm every day and spirits were definitely high.

It was nearing 6 pm now, and you were just finishing up your final report of the day. “We should go for drinks!” Torres announces. Bishop quickly agrees but you hesitate, the idea of getting into bed and eating junk food sounding very appealing. “Come on Y/N! It’s Friday!” 

At your unconvinced look, Torres adds “What about if I buy you your first drink?” 

Your face spreads into a wide smirk. “Deal.”

**—**

An hour later the whole team is sitting in the fancy new bar Torres had been raving about for the last couple of weeks. The drinks were overpriced, even for DC, and you’re grateful Torres is buying your first one.

You’re sitting in between Kasie and Ellie. With Jack opposite you and Gibbs to her left. Torres ends up buying the whole team a round, and you wince in sympathy for his bank account. 

“Thank you” You grin, taking a sip of your drink as Torres takes his seat next to McGee. 

Everyone falls into easy conversation, laughing and joking. You chat with Kasie for a bit about the forensics convention she’d been to the previous week. Her eyes light up with enthusiasm as she tells you about the new technology that’d she’d been able to trail and how she was going to ask Vance to update the lab. 

“Yeah, good luck with that,” McGee quips, overhearing your conversation. “I’ve been trying to get the computers and wifi updated for a good year with no success.” Kasie’s smile dims slightly and McGee notices so he quickly back peddles. “But hey, maybe you’ll have more luck!” He goes on to ask about some technology he’d heard was being announced and Kasie barely can stay still in her seat as her excitement takes over.

You use the dull in conversation as an excuse to go get another drink and despite it being a Friday evening it doesn’t take long for you to be served. When you get back to the table, McGee has moved to your spot, still talking to Kasie, you roll your eyes at him playfully and look for an empty space. The seat next to Torres is free but he’s chatting to Gibbs about something sport-related and you’d rather throw your head into a wall than listen to _that_ conversation. Your eyes then find the free seat next to Jack and your face brightens. She’s currently talking to Ellie. Both blondes flash you a smile as you slip into the seat. 

“I was just telling Jack about that terrible date I went on last week.” Your face fills with sympathy, remembering the story. “How about you Jack, any dates recently?” Her voice lowers to a whisper as a smirk pulls at her lips. “Maybe with a certain grey-haired agent…” Her head signals to Gibbs, who’s thankfully still talking to Torres and is none the wiser of the conversation. 

Jack’s cheeks tinged pink and both you and Ellie start laughing. “Seriously guys there isn’t a ' _thing_ '.” Ellie just rolls her eyes but Jack’s face turns serious. “We’re just friends!” It comes out a lot louder than expected and the rest of the table turns to face them as Jack’s face flashes bright red. 

“Okay. Okay…” Ellie holds her hands up in mock surrender but you can tell she doesn’t believe Jack. Jack notices too as she just rolls her eyes, leaning back in her chair and huffing before finishing off the rest of her drink in one large swig. She looks serious, so you flash her a sympathetic smile, squeezing her hand slightly. Her lips tip up into a smile but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

A drink and a half later, and Torres is trying to convince everyone to get on the dance floor with him. Ellie and Kasie quickly jump up to join, dragging Jimmy along as well despite his protests. McGee ducked out a little under half an hour ago claiming tiredness. Gibbs mutters something about getting drinks and leaves the table, leaving just you and Jack. 

Jack subtly tries to hide a yawn, turning her head away from you and covering her mouth with her hand. You start laughing and the blonde turns back to you, rolling her eyes playfully. “Tired?” 

Jack sighs, slumping back into her chair. “I’m just thinking about how I could be at home, in my pyjamas, catching up on Queer Eye and not in a loud crowded bar.”

“No way!” You grin brightly, sitting up excitedly in your chair. “You watch Queer Eye?” 

A look of disbelief crosses Jack’s face as her own smile spreads across her lips. “Are you telling me I’ve worked with someone for the last year and didn’t know she watched one of my favourite shows!” 

“I can’t believe it!” You’re grinning. “Are you free this weekend?” 

Jack’s eyes light up as she realises where you’re going with this, she hadn’t had someone to chat with about reality tv since, well, Jessica. “Tomorrow evening?” 

“I’ll bring the take-out” You grin, nodding your head excitedly in agreement. Gibbs comes back to the table then, placing a drink each in front of you and Jack. You both nod your thanks, you were starting to feel the buzz. 

Ellie comes back to the table not long later, sweaty from dancing and starts gulping down her drink. Your eyes widen in shock, knowing she was very much going to regret that in the morning. She drops her now empty glass on the table before aiming a sly smirk at you. You shuffle in your chair, dread filling your stomach. 

“No! No!” You exclaim, as Ellie slowly moves around the table. You try to move further away and end with your back pushed against Jack's side as you squirm in your chair. Jack’s laughing lightly and you can feel the chuckle as it vibrates through your body. Ellie quickly grabs your hand pulling you from your chair and you’re surprised by her strength, your expression must reflect as much as now Jack’s laughing harder and even Gibbs chuckles from next to her. 

You keep shooting looks back at them mouthing ‘help’ as Ellie drags you to the dance floor. They just continue to laugh, Jack waves, smirking brightly and you roll your eyes _Traitors_. 

Once you’re on the dance floor you don’t fight it anymore. You dance, enjoying the freeing feeling as you bounce around the space. You freeze when you notice Jimmy’s comically bad ‘dad dancing’ and try to hide your laugher behind your hands. Jimmy notices, face brightening, he moves over to you and exaggerates his already embarrassing dancing. You break into laughter, joining in with Jimmy as he does the robot.

**—**

When you wake up the next morning you feel surprisingly good. Only a dull headache which can easily be fixed with some paracetamol and food. You quickly shower, changing into black leggings and an oversized jumper before heading to the kitchen in search of food.

You’re just sitting down to eat when your phone buzzes with a text from Jack. 

_Hope you’re feeling alright this morning. We still on for tonight?_

A wide smile spreads across your face as you read the text and you quickly type a response one-handed as you continue to eat with the other. 

_Surprisingly good, thanks! Yes, if you’re still game. Pizza or Chinese?_

You know both Ellie and Nick are going to be regretting their actions this morning and make a mental reminder to contact them later to see if they’re still alive. Your phone buzzes again, and you’re drawn from your thoughts. 

_Awesome, 1700 at mine? And surprise me, I’m good with whatever!_

You shoot back a quick text agreeing to the plans. Leaving your phone on the counter, you clean up your mess from breakfast and continue with your day. 

It’s early afternoon when you finally call Ellie. She answers the phone after only a couple of rings and proceeds to release a long whine. You start laughing, imagining her still in bed, hiding under the covers to protect herself from the harsh light of day. 

“So, you are feeling about as good as I expected then?” You tease. 

“What do you want?” Ellie grumbles, causing you to laugh again. 

“Oh, was just calling to see how you’re doing. I’m going to check in on Nick next.” 

“I’ll save you a phone call then,” Ellie shouts out Nick’s name and then proceeds to groan at the loud noise. You can distantly hear someone stumbling around, a loud crash followed by ‘fuck!’ and then a door opening. 

“What?” Nick groans, and you can hear the bed creak as he throws himself onto it. 

“Y/N called to bask in our pain.” 

“Bitch” Nick mutters. You just laugh again. 

Ellie brightens up when she gets to explain the story of how Nick had nearly thrown up in the taxi and the taxi driver had refused to continue driving them so he’d ended up crashing on Ellie’s couch (and also bathroom floor as he spent a lot of his time with his head down the toilet). Nick spent the whole time muttering under his breath and you laugh at them both. You finally finish the call an hour later with a final comment about drinking responsibly. Nick groans while Ellie just blows a raspberry at the phone and hangs up. You sit on your couch laughing for the next couple of minutes, wiping tears from your eyes, excited at the prospect of teasing them all come Monday morning. 

You decide on Chinese for dinner. You place an order, selecting your usual and as you aren’t aware of Jack’s regular order, choose a few extra dishes that you feel she might like. You don’t bother changing from your comfy clothes, just slipping on a pair of trainers and tying your hair out of your face. Before grabbing your keys and bag and heading to your car. You pick up the food on the way and pull up to Jack’s house at 5 pm on the dot. 

“Always on time,” Jack smirks when she opens the door to you, her face brightens even more when she notices the bag of Chinese food and you’re happy you made the right choice. Jack welcomes you into her house, taking the bag of food from you as you kick off your shoes and place your bag down. You look round the room, taking in the space, this was the first time you’d been to Jack’s home. 

“Wow, you have a beautiful home.” Jack’s lips tug into a proud smile as she enters the room again, now with plates. 

“Thanks.” She leads you to her living room and places the food and plates on her coffee table as you’d done a couple of months prior. She sits down on the couch, legs crossed. She’s dressed in yoga pants and an old t-shirt, her hair tied up in a ponytail and feet bare from any shoes. You grin, taking your own seat next to her and begin to unpack the food.

“I wasn’t sure what you liked so I went with a variety.” Jack’s face lights up when she sees the amount of food you’d ended up getting and you bite your lip self consciously. “If you don’t like any of it-” 

“You got a couple of my go-to dishes so we’re good.” Jack laughs and begins to fill her plate with food. You breathe a sigh of relief before doing the same. The TV is all set up, Queer Eye just waiting to be played, and once you’ve both filled your plates and are sitting comfortably she clicks start. 

You fall into an easy silence as you watch the show, only occasionally breaking it to make comments and laugh. However, you’d forgotten how emotional this particular episode was and feel your eyes begin to well up, you try to blink away the tears sighing at yourself. Jack notices and reaches her hand out to place on your own. You turn to look at her surprised to see watery eyes reflected back at you. You both release sad chuckles and you stop trying to hide your emotions, allowing the tears to fall down your face as you go back to watching the show. 

“Wow…” you chuckle, wiping the tears from your face as the episode ends. “I forgot how emotional this show is.” 

“Tell me about it.” Jack comments, huffing and rubbing the tears from her own face. “I’m going to make some tea, want some?” Jacks asks, standing from the couch. You nod, thanking her and she disappears to the kitchen. You pack up the food, there’s still a decent amount left. You separate the boxes into two piles, giving Jack all the food you’d noticed she’d enjoyed the most. 

She comes back a few minutes later, two mugs in hand. She passes one to you, which you accept with a smile, before sitting down closer to you than before. “I never asked how your day was.” You take a sip from your drink, revelling in the warm feeling that spreads through your body. 

“I had lunch with Izzy”

“Oh?” You have to bite your lip to stop from laughing, having heard stories of Izzy and Jack’s relationship. “How was that?” 

Jack sighs, rolling her eyes but a small smile pulls at her lips anyway. “Eventful.” She tilts her head in consideration. “Although, It is nice to have someone I knew from San Diego around.” Jack shakes her head as if to dispel memories. Her smile widening “How was your day?” 

“Uneventful.” You shrug. “Spent most of it doing chores I’ve neglected over the last couple of weeks…” You smirk, thinking back to your phone call with a certain duo. “Although, I did have a lovely conversation with our dear Ellie and Nick.” 

Jack laughs, moving slightly so she was sitting facing you, her legs crossed under her. “How hungover were they?” You explain the story, about Nick nearly throwing up in the taxi, their obvious pain and whining and how you didn’t even feel slightly bad for them. Jack offers sympathetic laughs. 

“Don’t feel sorry for them! I thought you’d enjoy their misery too, well Ellie’s at least after bringing up the whole Gibbs ‘thing’!” You laugh, not noticing how Jack’s own laughter has cut out and she’s no longer looking at you. Your smile falters when you finally notice. “Sorry I didn’t mean-”

Jack sighs, cutting you off. “No, it’s fine. I just-...There really /isn’t/ a ‘thing’. We’re good friends but there’s nothing romantic there. We’ve both been through a lot and told each other some serious stuff...” Jack trails off. She hasn’t looked at you since she started talking so you reach out your hand placing it on her own. She finally meets your eyes. 

“I’ll get the others to lay off. And I’m sorry for teasing. You shouldn’t have to defend your friendship. It’s nice you have each other.” You squeeze her hand once more before letting go, the tension in the room dissolving.

Jack offers a smile. “Now, how about another episode?” You laugh, settling back into the sofa as Jack presses play.

**—**

“Knock, Knock.” You speak, as you hold two fresh cups of coffee in your hand. Jack’s currently sitting at her desk looking at something on her computer, she’s chewing her lip and absentmindedly twirling the pen in her hand. The second she hears your voice, she places the pen down and turns to you with a large smile.

“My lifesaver” Jack breathes, readily accepting the coffee cup. You laugh lightly, taking the seat in front of her desk and taking a sip from your own drink. 

“How are the profiles going? I heard Warrick’s team have a hard case this week.”

Jack sighs, head dropping into her hands. “Yeah, a Navy officer and his 10-year-old daughter were found shot in their home.” 

“Oh god, that’s horrible. Suspects?” 

“There’s a couple.” She signals to the case files, taking a sip of her coffee. “I’m just narrowing down which one, if any, I think could’ve done it.” She looks at the clock noticing it’s already 7 pm and sighs. “It’s going to be a long night.” 

You offer a sympathetic smile. “Raincheck on dinner tonight then?” 

“Oh! I completely forgot! I’m so sorry-” Jack sits up in her chair, as she rushes to apologise.

“Hey,” You cut her off, trying to calm her down. “It’s fine really, that’s the job.” You shrug and you see Jack begin to relax again.

“I’m still really sorry, I’ve been looking forward to finally tasting your cooking all week.” Jack’s shoulders slump and she smiles sadly. 

“Well then it’s probably good we have to rearrange, postpone the inevitability of me giving you food poisoning.” You quip and Jack laughs, rolling her eyes at you playfully, a warmth spreads across your chest and a small smile pulls at your lips. You say goodbye after that, leaving her to finish the profiles so she’ll hopefully be able to leave at a somewhat reasonable time tonight. 

McGee, Torres and Bishop had long since gone home, but Gibbs is sitting in the darkened bullpen typing away at his computer. You make your way to your desk, grabbing your bag. Gibbs shoots you a curious look. “Everyone else went home over an hour ago.” 

“I know.” You shrug. “I was meant to be having dinner with Jack and was waiting for her to finish. She’s still helping on Warrick’s case though so we’re rescheduling.” 

Gibbs is looking at you slightly weirdly now and you don’t really understand what’s happening. Was he smirking? “Right well...Night Gibbs.” You wave goodbye, sparing Gibbs one last look as he grumbles something along the lines of ‘have a good night’ and you head off to the elevator. 

The doors are just closing when your phone pings with a text notification. 

_Now I can’t stop thinking about food._

You laugh, biting your lip lightly as you respond. 

_I could get you something from that pizza shop around the corner?_

_Would you?_

And then…

_Get something for yourself too! We can eat and work._

The only paperwork you had to do you’d planned on doing tomorrow morning, so really you had no reason to stay and work. However, the idea of spending the evening eating pizza with Jack was appealing and to be honest you were slightly disappointed that you’d had to reschedule dinner.

When you reappear in the office 20 minutes later, Gibbs is still sitting at his desk. You pass him a pizza box before going to your desk and collecting the paperwork you needed. Gibbs’ eyebrows shoot up in surprise. He thanks you for the pizza, watching you walk upstairs and isn’t surprised when he sees you heading in the direction of Jack’s office. He smirks, shaking his head. 

You never did care much for his rules.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's canon that Jack likes reality TV but the only thing I watch is Queer Eye, hence the reference! :)


	5. Chapter Five

You barely contain your yawn as you make your way into the diner. Your face lighting up when you see Jack, already waiting in a booth, and you quickly make your way over. “Sorry, I’m late!” You slide into the seat opposite the blonde, greedily taking a sip of the coffee she pushes towards you. 

“Not a problem, I ordered your usual.” Jack’s smile is a little sheepish like she’s not sure if she’s overstepped but you just flash her a grateful smile and the unease vanishes from her expression. You sigh as you lean back in the booth, feeling your body relax. “How’s your house guest?” 

You can’t control your groan at that and Jack laughs, a smirk pulling at her lips. “That well, huh?” 

Your younger brother, James, has been staying with you recently after getting kicked out of his old apartment. “He’s the reason I’m late! He kept me up till 2 am shouting at his Xbox.” You whine. “Jack! He doesn’t do anything. I don’t think I’ve seen him do a single chore, he orders take out every night instead of cooking. I swear he turned 15 and decided to just stop ageing!” Jack tries to be sympathetic but there’s still humour in her eyes and you shoot her a glare which just causes her to actually start laughing. 

“You’ve got to find a way to make him uncomfortable, motivate him to want his own place again. He’s too comfortable.” 

You release a withering sigh, dropping your head to the table dramatically. “But how?” The whine is back in your voice again and Jack playfully rolls her eyes at you. 

“He’s your brother.”

You sigh again, lifting your head to rest in your hand as you look at Jack. A sly smirk covers your face and you can see Jack’s growing unease. “Jackkkkk” You smile sweetly. The blonde just looks at you, crossing her arms. “You’re the profiler… can’t you, I don’t know, meet him, play some mind tricks?” 

“Mind tricks?” Jack smirks, rolling her eyes. “Seriously is that what you think I do?” You’d think you’d offended her if you didn’t notice the humour in her eyes.

“Please, Jack. I need the man child out of my apartment, I want to be able to come home to a clean and quiet place that doesn’t stink of men and greasy take-out food.” Jack doesn’t say anything and you clasp your hands together on the table, trying your best at ‘puppy dog eyes’. “Please! I’m begging, I’ll do anything!” 

“Anything huh?” Her smirk turns devilish, a sparkle in her eye that makes you gulp. You don’t move though, even as a slight blush tinges your cheeks. Jack releases an amused chuckle, tapping your hands to get you to sit back. “Sure. I’ll do it.” 

“Thank you” You grin, breathing a sigh of relief “After work tonight?” 

“Sounds like a plan.” Jack’s eyes are twinkling and it’s not until the waitress arrives with your food that her eyes leave yours. You gulp trying to ignore the weird feeling that has settled in your stomach.

\---

Breakfast is cut short by a call from Gibbs about a case, and you quickly shovel the last of your scrambled eggs into your mouth, shooting an apologetic smile at Jack. You try to drop a couple of bills on the table to pay but Jack waves you off and you don’t have the time to fight her as you hurry out the diner and into your car. 

The victim is Petty Officer William Shore. His body is found on a jogging route where he was shot in the back. There’s not much evidence on the crime scene, only his phone that lays a few feet away from him. You get the statement from the woman who found him, she’d been completing an early morning jog but had no idea who the man was and hadn’t seen him before so the crime scene is wrapped up pretty quickly and before you know it you’re heading to the Navy Yard. 

Gibbs and Ellie go straight to the conference room to interview the victim’s wife and you head to your desk and begin going through the man’s credit card history. 

It’s pretty clean although there’s a suspicious amount of transactions in a neighbourhood that, as far as you know, he doesn’t have any connection too. When Gibbs and Ellie return they’re convinced it isn’t the wife, she’s distraught over the whole incident. Torres informs you all about the frequent number of phone calls over the past six months to a woman called Sarah Dredger. She lives in the same neighbourhood as where your transactions are from.

Gibbs sends you and Torres to collect her and when you knock on her apartment door you’re surprised to find the woman already in tears. You have to stop yourself from laughing at Torres’ eye-roll as he puts the woman into the back of the car.

You get into interrogation and you don’t have to say anything for her to start confessing. It was a story you’d heard thousands of times before, she’d been having an affair with William and he’d promised to leave his wife for her but then, last night, he’d ended their affair over the phone. He ran the same jogging route every morning so she knew where he’d be, she tried to make him reconsider but he wouldn’t listen to her and started to continue to jog. She shot him and dumped the gun in the trash bins outside her home. 

“Well, that was the easiest case of the century.” You roll your eyes, watching as the agents take Sarah away. Jack chuckles from behind you, a smirk on her face. You turn slightly, bumping your shoulder against hers “Redo of breakfast sometime this week?” 

A bright smile fills her face. “It’s a date.”

\---

The day goes by pretty quickly and before you know it Jack’s in the bullpen, jacket on and bag hanging off her shoulder. “Ready to go?” She asks, stopping by your desk. 

You switch off your computer, standing up and sliding your own bag on. “Let’s do this!” The determination is clear in your face and Jack rolls her eyes playfully at you. 

“Hot date?” Nick comments as you begin to follow Jack, you don’t falter though, just grab the rubber band ball off of Ellie’s desk before turning and chucking it at him. Ellie’s and Tim’s laughter follows you out of the room as Torres nearly falls from his chair in the effort to avoid it. When you load onto the lift Jack’s grinning at you and you both break out into laughter.

\---

“James, I’m home!” You call when you open your front door. There’s no answer and you roll your eyes, kicking your shoes off and dumping your bag on the couch as you pass it. Jack does the same, as well as shimmying out of her jacket and placing it nicely on the back of your couch. “Drink?” 

“Sure.” She follows you as you make your way into the kitchen.

“Coffee ok?” 

“Yeah, that’s great.” Jack takes a seat at the breakfast counter as you move around your small kitchen and make the drinks. You’re just tipping the liquid into mugs when you hear the guest bedroom door open. 

“Is that coffee I smell-” Your brother halts, stopping in the entrance of your kitchen when he notices Jack. You don’t bother hiding the smirk that tugs as his mouth drops open in surprise.

“James, right? I’m Special Agent Jacqueline Sloane but call my Jack.” Jack extends her hand and your brother accepts, a smirk pulling at his lips as he quickly recovers from his surprise. 

You focus on finishing the coffee’s, putting Jack’s mug in front of her along with your pot of sugar. You go to hand your brother his and barely contain yourself from throwing an apple at his head when you notice his eyes trail over the blonde. You clear your throat, your eyes dark with danger as you hand the coffee over. When you turn back to look at Jack she’s smirking. 

“So James, are you enjoying staying with Y/N?” Your brother moves to sit on the stool next to her.

“Yeah, it’s like being kids again, she spends the whole time nagging me to do stuff and I respond by not doing it. All that’s missing is when she inevitably would call mum.” 

“Maybe I wouldn’t need to nag you if you actually did anything.” You stick out your tongue at him, completely ignoring the humour you see dancing in Jack’s eyes at your childish action. “And I see you didn’t take out the trash as I asked you too.”

“I only got home like 20 minutes before you. I do have a job too!” 

“But you also didn’t leave for at least an hour after I did!” You didn’t really know exactly what your brother did, you just knew it involved a lot of maths _and_ it was also a 9-5 job. So he always left later than you and arrived home before you but still managed to do nothing to help. 

James arches his eyebrow at you with a smirk on his face and you know whatever he says next you aren’t going to like. “So, Jack, has Y/N ever told you about the time she got food poisoning as a kid and threw up all over the waitresses shoes.” 

“I swear to god, I’m going to kill you.” You glare at your brother, trying to stop the blush from rushing up your face as Jack starts laughing sympathetically. 

“She didn’t! Have you got any other stories?” 

“Jack!” You whine “You’re meant to be on my side!” 

Jack smirks, looking away from you and back to James. “So, what other stories?”

\---

“So...I’ve got an idea. I’m just not sure you’re going to like it.” 

“Jack, I’ll honestly do anything!” You can hear your brothers’ footsteps coming closer and Jack quickly makes her way around the counter, stopping in front of you. 

“Trust me, ok?” 

“Of course.” Jack smiles and then shocks you by grabbing your waist and pushing you back into the counter. Your eyes widen in surprise but you don’t say anything just grip hold of the surface behind you.

Your breath hitches as she steps closer, her hands resting on the counter either side of you and her leg slotting lightly in between yours. “Ok, he’s coming.” She whispers, your eyes fall to her lips and you try to swallow the sudden lump in your throat. Jack’s mouth begins to dip lower, hovering centimetres away from yours and you can’t breathe as your heart pounds in your chest. 

“So, Jack-” James enters the room and Jack lingers just long enough to make sure he’s taken in the scene before stepping away. Your hands are digging into the counter behind you and it takes you a moment to catch your breath before you turn around, you know your face is scarlet, but that doesn’t stop your smirk when you notice the look of horror on your brother's face. “God, I need to get my own place.” Your brother quickly backs out of the room and Jack turns to face you a wide grin on her face. 

You high five, your thumping heart finally starting to calm down again and you clear your throat, “How did you know that would work?” 

“No one wants to see a member of their family in a position like that.” You laugh but then seconds later scrunch up your face in disgust when an image of your brother being in the same position pops into your head. You shiver and humour dances through Jack’s eyes. 

“Thank you. Really. I owe you one.”

“No problem, It was fun.” That sparkles back in her eye as she smirks and you quickly look away. She excuses herself not long after that and after a quick dinner, watching a couple of episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and a shower you head to bed. And if you happen to dream about Jack’s mouth hovering near yours and the feeling of her leg slotted between yours, well it was the most action you’d gotten in months so really it didn’t mean anything.

\---

“You are an angel! James has found his own place!” You barely stop yourself from jumping in joy as you throw open Jack’s office door. You don’t notice her immediately and it’s not until you turn around that you see her quickly getting up from the chair in the corner of her office, wiping at her eyes. 

The glee instantly disappears from your face as you quickly shut her office door. “I’m sorry for barging in...Are you okay?” 

Jack groans, dropping back into the chair and holding her head in her hands. You move over sitting on the floor in front of her and lean up to rub soothing circles on her knee. “Hey, what has happened?” 

Jack’s eyes slowly come up to meet yours and you can see the unshed tears in her eyes. She releases a self-deprecating laugh and huffs a breath. “Safwan Anshiri.”

“One of the Wingo's, right?”

Jack’s lips tip up into a barely-there smile. “It’s his birthday today and It’s just bringing a lot of stuff back up.” You move your hand from her knee up to squeeze one of her hands. 

“Tell me about him.” 

Jack blows out a breath, looking up to the ceiling and you pull your hand away, giving her the space to collect her thoughts. “He couldn’t play poker.” Jack laughs. “He thought he was so good, but the first time I played him I completely thrashed his arse.”

“Oh, so kind of like that time at Gibbs’ when I thrashed _your arse_.” 

“That was totally a one-off!” Jack scrunches up her nose at you and you can’t contain the wide smile that crosses your face and the playful eye roll you shoot her. “ _Anyway_ , we had a short fling but he was a good friend. He was great at keeping everyone’s morale up and could pretty much always make me laugh.” Tears have started to trail down Jack’s face as she smiles. 

“He sounds like a pretty amazing guy.” 

“Yeah, he was.” 

Jack continues to tell you her favourite stories about him and you sit quietly watching the emotions play over her face as you take in every detail. It isn’t until nearly 45 minutes later when your phone rings, Tim telling you they’ve got a lead and need you back, that you finally get off the floor. 

She follows you to the door. “Thank you.”

“Anytime. I mean it.” You don’t overthink it as you pull the woman into a hug, she lets out a slight “oh” in surprise but doesn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around your shoulders. You pull away. “I should get going before Gibbs gets impatient.”

Jack laughs. “Don’t worry I’m sure he’s already annoyed you didn’t materialise in front of him.” As if to prove her point your phone starts ringing and you roll your eyes, showing the phone to Jack as the caller ID flashes. She smirks. “See, nothing if not predictable.” 

“Bye.” You mouth to the blonde, as you make your way out of her office and answer the phone. “I’m just coming now.”


	6. Chapter Six

The team had caught the case in the early hours of Monday morning. Lieutenant Natalie Simmons and her wife Paige had both been found dead in an alleyway, miles away from their home. It was plain to see they’d both been tortured; cuts and burns littered their half-naked bodies but there was no blood at the crime scene.

The Metropolitan PD had 2 cases open that matched what had happened to your victims, both in the last 5 weeks. It was always 2 women and the women were in some form of a romantic relationship. They all had substantial trauma to their bodies and cause of death had been a gunshot wound to the back of the head, but with little to no forensic evidence, the PD had been stumped and didn't resist when NCIS took the case.

Due to the healing time of some of the wounds on the woman’s bodies Jimmy confirms that they were held for multiple days. Kasie had the bullets but with no gun to match them too, they weren’t much use.

It doesn’t take long to discover all the victims had been to a nightclub a couple of nights before their deaths called ‘Honeydrop’. Ellie and Tim go to speak to the owner and any staff/regulars that were around. A member of staff confirms that all 6 victims had been to the club and she only remembers because they were all ridiculously drunk. The cameras don’t work so you have to rely on witness accounts. Customers confirm the bartender’s story though, saying they remember seeing Natalie and Paige stumbling out of the club on Friday night.

There are no disturbance calls or fight reports with the police and even the customers confirm that that sort of stuff never really happens around here. “Do you remember anyone creepy watching the girls the night of their disappearance?” Ellie asks.

“I mean creepy J was watching them, but he has a tendency to ogle the woman, he’s harmless though, just kind of a creep.”

“Creepy J?” The woman explains that he’s one of the bartenders, real name Jasper Yapp. Worked here the last couple of months and his wife Rachel had begun to start coming to the club every so often as well, usually Friday’s but recently Wednesday’s (Ladies night) as well. She doesn’t speak to anyone apart from Jasper though, usually just sits in a corner drinking.

As you look into Jasper the possibility of him being your perp heightens. He has a record for aggravated assault and was in prison for 6 months. He’d also been fired from his 2 previous jobs both due to anger problems. However, there was nothing connecting them to the case. They didn’t own a gun, owned no properties that could be used to hold victims, the only thing that even connected them to the victims at all was that Jasper and his wife had been at the bar all 3 nights but so had half the other staff.

With such little evidence, a search warrant was off the table and there was no point in bringing them into interrogation as you’d just tip your hand and spook them. An undercover operation seemed like your best option.

It was going to be you and Ellie but considering she’d been to the bar a couple of days beforehand her cover could easily be blown. Jasper wasn’t there when she went to the club, but it was possible another member of staff would recognise and expose her. So, the next option was Jack who jumped at the chance to go back into the field.

\----

“Hey, girlfriend.” The teasing lilt in Jack’s voice makes you roll your eyes playfully, as you turn around to face her. You’re about to throw back your own witty comment but stop when you notice her outfit. You swallow roughly as your eyes trail up her body taking in every aspect of the look. She’s wearing black skinny jeans, with a white satin shirt that’s unbuttoned a tad deeper than usual, giving you a peek of cleavage. She’s got braces on, sitting across her chest and she’s currently fiddling with one of the straps absentmindedly. A gold necklace hangs around her neck and she has paired the whole outfit with a pair of black heeled boots. When your eyes finally reach her face, her makeup and hair in their usual style, you find a devilish smirk on her face. You realise your jaw is hanging open and quickly snap it shut.

You clear your throat and try to fight the blush that’s forming. “You look good Jack.” 

Jack's eyebrows raise, smirk still present as she lightly bites her bottom lip. “Thanks. So do you.” You were wearing a black playsuit, pared with a chunky belt and your doc martens.

“Thanks.” You clear your throat again. Why was it so hard to breathe in here? “Uh, I’ve just got to finish fixing my makeup and then I’ll be out.”

“Ok. I’ll be in my office, come find me after?” You nod but don’t say anything else and Jack makes her exit, shutting the bathroom door behind her. You look back in the mirror and breathe a sigh of relief before going back to fix your makeup. Deliberately _not_ thinking about the feeling currently shooting through your body.

\----

Once you’ve finished, you head down the corridor to Jack’s office. “Ready to go?” Jack nods, locking up her office and falling in step with you as you head down to the bullpen.

Torres whistles loudly when he sees you both. “Hot damn, you ladies dress up good!” You can’t help the proud smirk that comes to your face even as you roll your eyes at him.

Tim hands you each an earpiece so you can keep in contact with the team. Your wires have already been fitted. Ellie and Gibbs will be sitting in a surveillance van outside, listening to what was happening and ready to intervene if anything started to go south. Tim and Nick, staying behind at NCIS just in case. Normally you’d have someone else on the inside posing as a staff member to watch but as your suspect was a bartender, Gibbs had decided to play it safe not wanting to spook him.

“Alright _babe_ , let’s do this.” You grin at the blonde.

“Yes _baby_ ,” Jack smirks back. You gulp at the words, ignoring the flutter in your stomach.

\----

The club is starting to fill up when you arrive. Jack squeezes your hand. “I’m going to get us drinks.” You nod, allowing her hand to slip from yours and begin to walk around the room taking in the space. It’s not too big. A bar sits to the left, filling the whole wall. Seating is dotted around the space with a dance floor in the back corner. You notice Rachel sitting at a table in the corner of the room.

“Yapp’s at the bar,” Jack whispers into your ear as she comes up beside you and passes you your drink. 

You hum. “His wife’s sitting at a table. 4 o’clock.” You both move to a high table a bit further down from Rachel, giving you both the ability to watch both her and Jasper. You sit there for a while, observing them. Taking it in turns to go up and collect drinks to give the illusion of drinking alcohol even if you didn’t take much more than a couple of sips. 

“She’s been watching that couple on the dance floor on and off for the last 5 minutes.” Jack suddenly speaks up. 

_“Draw her attention to you.”_ Gibbs voice speaks through your earpiece. 

“May I have this dance, Jack.” You stand from your chair, doing a dramatic bow and extending your hand. Jack laughs.

“It would be an honour” She accepts your hand and allows you to pull her from the chair. You lead her to the dance floor, making sure you were in direct eye-line of Rachel and blocking her view of the other couple. 

You dance closely moving to the beat of the music. Jack’s hands move to the air as she dances, before running down and through her hair. Your eyes find Rachel, who has moved slightly her eyes back on the couple from before. The women are basically wrapped around each other and look like they are seconds away from fucking on the dance floor. You barely withhold your groan as you realize what’s going to have to happen to gain the woman’s full attention. 

You link your hand with one of Jack’s, leading her slightly backwards to block the view of the other couple again. You move your hands to Jack’s waist pulling her into you, your bodies now flushed together. Jack’s let outs a small gasp in surprise, a smirk tugging at her lips. “Ready to put on a show?” You tease and Jack smirk just widens, her hands snaking up to wrap around your neck. 

Your bodies move in sync as you dance. Jack’s eyes hold yours, sweat glistens on her forehead as she takes heavy breaths. Her hips keep pushing into yours as you dance and your hands are gripped around the bottom of her braces as you hold her against you. You watch fascinated as Jack’s eyes darken, she’s smirking and her head moves even closer to your, her hands leaving where they’d been loosely resting around your neck and finding their way into your hair. You can’t breathe, can’t do anything but watch the blonde. Her eyes finally leave yours as she quickly looks over your shoulder before focusing back on you.

“We’ve got her attention. Big finale?” You nod, unable to say anything else as Jack’s eyes fall to your lips and pull your head in closer to hers. It’s like time slows down as Jack’s lips brush yours and you instantly feel alive. Jack gasps and you kiss her harder. You stop dancing as you spend time exploring each other’s mouths with hot kisses. Your leg juts forward, sliding into the space between her legs, the denim of her jeans scratches across your bare leg and you feel her hands lighten in your hair. The rest of the world disappears as a moan rips from Jack’s throat and you feel a sudden heat shoot straight down between your legs.

It’s not until Gibbs’ voice rings through your ear with a grumbled _“Y/N. Sloane. Sitrep.”_ You come back to reality. You jump in Jack’s arms barely refraining from yanking yourself away, at the same time, someone stumbles into you, spilling their drink down your side. 

“Shit!” 

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Your eyes snap up to find Rachel and you let the kiss drift to the back of your mind as you fall back into work mode. She looks apologetic but you can see the ways her eyes light up in excitement. “I’m really sorry. Let me buy you and your” She looks at Jack, her lips slightly pursed “friend a drink to apologise.” 

“It’s fine, you don’t have-” 

“I insist really.” 

“Sure, okay.” You follow Rachel to the bar, interlocking your fingers with Jack’s. A determination is in Jack’s eyes that makes you smirk. You watch as Rachel orders the drinks from Jasper and barely contain from rolling your eyes as you notice his eyes trailing over you and Jack. They speak in hushed voices so you can’t hear them but you _do notice_ when Jasper subtly drops something into both of your drinks. 

“They’re trying to drug us.” You whisper it into Jack’s ear aware that the team will be able to hear you too. 

_”Be careful guys.”_ Ellie’s voice rings through. It was probably GHB or Rohypnol and why it was unlikely a sip would have any effect on your body it would be safest if you didn’t both drink it. 

“One of us needs to take a sip to satisfy her. You go to the toilet. I’ll take a sip and then come and find you.” You can see the hesitation in Jack’s eyes but Rachel’s about to turn around and she needs to move quickly. At the steel in your expression, Jack sighs, squeezing your hand and giving you a look that says _be careful_ before quickly turning around and heading to the toilets.

Rachel turns around then, she’s about to give you the drinks when she notices Jack’s absence. “Where’s your friend?” 

“Oh, she just went to the toilet. She’ll be back.” You ensure, and there’s hesitation in Rachel’s eyes but she hands you the drinks anyway and just like you suspected she’s patiently waiting for you to take a sip. The cup is too full to do anything but take one. 

A satisfied smirk crosses Rachel’s face. “Again, I’m so sorry!” 

“It’s really no problem, thank you for the drinks. Now I’ve got to go find my girlfriend, check if she’s okay.” You wave goodbye to the woman and make your way to the toilets across the club. You can feel Rachel’s and Jasper’s eyes watching you the whole time. 

“How do you feel?” Jack asks the second the toilet door closes behind you. You roll your eyes at her. 

“I’m fine, I literally took the tiniest sip.” You move to the sink tipping the majority of the liquid down the sink before handing one of the cups to Jack. She’s about to say something else but then Gibbs’ voice is cutting in.

_”10 minutes. Then lead them out the back. We’ll have to wait until they try something and then we’ll step in.”_

“Got it, boss.” As you say it your eyes finally meet the mirror and you notice a couple of lipstick stains around your mouth from Jack’s kisses. You clear your throat, careful to avoid Jack’s eyes as you wipe at your mouth. You didn’t have time to focus on _that_ now either. Later. Once the case was over. 

After you’ve finished cleaning your mouth you turn to look back at Jack offering a small smile. “Let’s get this done.”

\----

You exit the club stumbling around, Jack’s arm is wrapped around your waist and your head leaning on her as you walk. Rachel and Jasper follow closely behind you both. You exit right out onto the dark alleyway and slowly begin to walk down the road. You barely get a couple of steps before you notice the car sitting in the middle of the path. You signal to Jack and she nods letting you know she’s noticed as well.

Jasper moves quickly, moving to stand in front of you both, blocking your route. “Can I help you?” You make sure your words sound slurred and Jasper just smirks. 

“Did you two want a lift home? It’s not safe to be out here.” Jasper’s voice is soothing and full of confidence and you could understand how people could have fallen for the trick. You can feel the presence of Rachel behind you.

“We’re alright thank you,” Jack speaks up, trying to manoeuvre you both around the man. Jasper just takes a step to the right, blocking her. 

“Really, we insist.” 

“No. I insist we’re fine.” Your response is curt and rude and you watch as Jasper’s lip curls into a sneer. You go to push past him and he grabs your wrist in a tight grip. Jack’s arms fall away from you as you try to pull your arm from Jasper's grip. He just tightens his grip. “Let me go!” 

It happens before Jack can move. You try to pull away again, kicking him in the leg in protest. He grunts in pain, snarling and before you can duck out the way, his fist flies out connecting with your jaw. You fall to the floor, gasping in pain as your head hits the road beneath you. Your head is already throbbing as you try to sit up. You can distantly hear the team descending on the scene as you spit out some blood. Your hand comes up to touch your lip and you gasp when you feel the cut. 

“Y/N? Are you ok?” Jack’s over in a matter of seconds, trying to stop you from getting up.

“I’m fine, just let me get up.” You whine, trying to push the blonde away so you can get off the floor as your head spins. 

“Will you just hold still a minute!” Jack snaps and you still. Despite your fat lip and headache you can’t help but smirk at the woman who holds your head in her hands, thumb brushing your cheek as she examines the cut.

She’s so pretty. Her hair’s a little frizzy from the evening but it makes her look cute. Your eyes find her shirt, you can see right down it and it gives you a perfect view of her cleavage. You quickly look away, swallowing roughly, and to Jack whose eyebrows are furrowed in concern. She always cares, it’s nice. You like when she cares about you, makes you feel warm inside. Everything about her makes you feel warm. When she held your hand, or smiled at you or got all excited, or when she was concentrating on something really hard and her eyebrows would furrow and she’d click her pen absentmindedly. Or how she was basically incapable of sitting on any surface properly, always without shoes and crossed legs. It was cute. She was cute.

And hot actually. The way her body had moved against yours tonight. That kiss you could have gotten lost in that kiss. You could do it again. You want to do it again.

No.

No. 

_Oh no._

_Oh shit._

“Y/N?” Jack’s beginning to get really concerned now. “Let’s get someone to check you out. Just hold onto me.” You allow her to guide you up and out of the alleyway as your mind screamed. 

You had feelings for Jack.

It made so much sense. Oh god. This was so bad. You couldn’t- nope! You worked with her! She was your best friend! This was so so bad. 

You allowed the EMT to do his examination as you sat in the back of the ambulance. You waved Jack off to go wrap everything up, unable to talk to her when your mind was swarming so much. 

Turns out you had a mild concussion. Not surprising due to your roaring head and the daze you’d fallen into that allowed your thoughts to spiral. The EMT gives you a couple of tablets to dull the pain and an ice pack to hold to your head. 

“Can I go now?” You beg, finally getting impatient and just wanting to go home and sleep this off.

“You’ll need someone to check on you overnight, make sure your symptoms don’t get any worse.” 

You roll your eyes. “I’ll be fine-” 

“I’ll stay with her.” Your eyes swing round to Jack, who’s back with a steel in her eyes that you know there’s no use fighting with. You try to anyway.

“Jack, seriously-” 

“I drove here anyway, so you can’t get home without a lift and Gibbs and Ellie will be heading back to NCIS.” Jack’s eyebrow raises, her eyes daring you to challenge her. Gibbs walks over then, coming to stand beside Jack. 

“Let Jack stay, Y/N. That’s an order.” 

You sigh, deflating as you give in. “Fine.” Jack grins brightly and Gibbs just smirks at you. His arm reaches out and you use it for balance as you get up from the ambulance. He surprises you then by pulling you into a hug that causes you to smile. He pulls away, making sure Jack’s got hold of you as he steps back completely. 

“You’re not to come in tomorrow.”

“Sure, ok.” You laugh, very much not going to follow that rule, as you begin to walk away. Jack’s arm is wrapped around your waist to support you and it’s sending butterflies through your stomach.

“I’m serious Y/N!” Gibbs calls after you. 

“I can’t hear you!” You shout back and you can hear Jack giggling from next to you. You turn to look at her, a smile coming to your face when you see the amused smirk on Jack’s face. 

“You are so not going into work tomorrow.” She whispers it into your ear, her hot breath tickling your face and you swallow roughly as the heat you’d felt earlier comes right back. You’re too consumed trying to calm the blush on your face to even come up with a response and Jack laughs. 

You were in so much trouble.


	7. Chapter Seven

Jack drops you off at your apartment, allowing you time to shower off the day while she heads to her own place to pack a night bag. You are so focused on trying to keep yourself upright, still, a little disorientated, that you don’t really have time to think about the feeling of Jack’s hands in your hair or her lips against yours. 

The pain meds the EMT had given you had done nothing to help the pounding of your head and it was only getting worse as you tried to change the sheets on the guest room bed for Jack. You have to stop suddenly as you begin to feel faint, hand reaching out for support on the bed as you lean over, holding your head in your free hand. You keep your eyes closed as you try to stop the room from spinning.

“Y/N! I told you I would do this.” She speaks calmly, mindful of your headache, but you can still hear the exasperation in her voice. Her hands come to your arm and you use her to balance yourself as you both slowly make your way out of the guest bedroom and into your own. You’re overly aware of her touch the whole time as it sends prickles of heat through your skin.

“You’re a guest! You can’t make your own bed.” 

You can practically _hear_ her eye-roll at your words. “I’m not going to let you strain yourself for some stupid hosting etiquette.” You open the door to your bedroom leading her into the room. She makes sure you’re sitting down on your bed before letting go of you. You watch her do a quick scan of the room, despite the number of times she’d been to your place she’d never set foot in your bedroom. “Cute.”

You feel your face heat up at the smirk tugging at her lips and the sparkle in her eyes. You look away and then proceed to heat up further when you notice the pile of dirty clothes on the floor in the corner of the room. Jack’s eyes follow yours and she laughs. “It’s been a hectic few days.” At your defensive tone, Jack’s laughter dies down.

“Don’t worry my room’s in exactly the same shape.” Her head reaches up to your face, thumb brushing your cheek under the pretence of examining the cut on your lip. Butterflies explode through your stomach and you can’t help the corny smile that covers your face. “I have to wake you up every couple of hours, so get some sleep and I’ll see you in a bit.” 

“Thanks, Jack.” You smile at the woman watching as she makes her way out of your room, flashing you one last smile before quietly closing the door.

You flop back onto your bed (and then whine at the pain that shoots through your head). Jack was in your home. Jack, the woman who you’d just released you had feelings for, was now going to be spending the night in the room down the hall from you. Despite your turmoil of emotions, you couldn’t help the small comfort you felt knowing she was here as well. It doesn’t take long for you to fall asleep.

\----

“Y/N” The voice nudges at you until you begin to slowly wake up. “Y/N, sweetheart.” A small smile tugs at your lips at the pet name. You can feel her presence as she sits on the bed next to you, hand brushing against your arm to stir you awake.

You grunt, opening one eye to see that darkness still surrounded the room. “What?” 

Jack laughs lightly. “Your first wake up call.” You roll over to face the woman and her face forms into an affectionate smile when she sees your half-asleep expression.

“I’m awake.” It’s said through a yawn and Jack chuckles. Her hair’s in a messy ponytail, sitting at the bottom of her head with bits of hair hanging loose framing her face. She’s got a white vest top on along with pale blue pyjama bottoms littered with white stars. You smirk when you notice them. “Cute pyjamas.” 

It’s too dark to see but the way Jack looks away you’re pretty sure she’s blushing. “Well glad you’re okay. Now go back to sleep.” She gets up, sparing you one last look, a roll of her eyes in response to your smile, before leaving the room and shutting the door again. You fall back asleep with a smile on your face.

\----

Jack only visits one more time through the course of the night and had received a muttered ‘fuck off’ in response. It’s 8 am when you wake up, unable to sleep anymore. You can distantly hear the sound of Jack moving around your kitchen and the smell of coffee causing you to smile. You stretch, yawning loudly as you roll out of bed.

Clothes and then you’d go in search of that coffee. You take your pyjamas off, throwing them in the direction of your laundry basket as you make your way over to your chest of draws. You take off your underwear, tossing them in the same direction before selecting a new set, along with a bra and putting them both on. 

You grab a pair of blue jeans, chucking them onto your bed and pad over to your wardrobe to find a shirt to wear. “What colour today?” You say under your breath as you browse through the items. You decide on a simple white t-shirt and chuck it next to your jeans. You’re just shutting your wardrobe when suddenly your bedroom door opens. 

“Morning-” Jack freezes when she notices you aren’t still in bed and turns to look at you. Heat shots straight between your legs as her eyes slowly trail down your body. She’s slack-jawed and you watch fascinated as she gulps. You think you see a flash of desire but it’s gone before you can be sure as the blonde averts her eyes a deep blush covering her face. “Came to check on you. Uh-Coffee.” She places the coffee cup on your chest of draws before quickly backing out of the room, not looking at you as she mutters something about being in the other room. 

You stare at the door in shock as your brain tries to process what just happened. A smirk tugs at your lips and you get dressed excited for the rest of today.

She’s sitting at your breakfast counter drinking coffee and still in her pyjamas when you finally emerge. She turns to look at you when she hears your footsteps. “I’m really sorry. I thought you’d still be asleep!”

You laugh, noticing the slight blush still on her cheeks. “It’s fine, really. And you brought me coffee, so even if I was upset you made it all better.” Jack offers you a sheepish smile and you can’t help but smirk. “But I mean if you wanted to see me in my underwear really all you had to do was ask.” 

The blush of Jack’s face comes back with fall force as she stutters. “I don’t- what- Y/N-” she stops, burying her head into her hands and when you break out into laughter she relaxes.

You drain the last of your coffee, placing the mug into the sink and fish your phone out of your back pocket. “We should be getting ready to go.”

Jack’s eyebrows shoot up. “You’re not going into work today!”

You roll your eyes. “I’m fine. It was a slight concussion, I can work.” 

“No way. Gibbs said you were to take the day off.” 

“Jack-” 

“No. You’re staying here and I’m staying too.” 

“I don’t need a babysitter!” 

“Good because you haven’t got one. Just a concerned friend who doesn’t want to see you hurt yourself anymore.” You want to argue back but can’t help the small smile that tugs at your lips because of her concern. 

You deflate. “Fine.” Huffing you make your way into your living room. Jack mutters something under her breath which you don’t catch but you can tell by her tone it’s probably nothing nice. Smirking, you sink into the couch. “Do you at least have an update on the case?” 

“They’re both in custody. We have them on attempted abduction. Their car got us murder charges. It had a GPS tracker which showed they’d been going to a warehouse in Langdon. They raided the location and found a whole station of knives, tools and the gun. There was also blood residue, results aren’t back yet but we’re pretty confident it’ll link all 6 victims to the scene.”

You breathe a sigh of relief. “It was worth getting punched in the face for then.” Jack rolls her eyes playfully at you as you smirk. 

“Am I okay to use your shower?” 

“Oh shit! I forgot to offer, yeah of course!” Embarrassment floods through you and you jump off the couch, running off to the airing cupboard to grab out a couple of towels. You hand them to Jack who’s just getting up from the couch herself. “I’m really sorry.” 

“It’s fine, really.” Humour dances in Jack’s eyes at your frenzy. She smirks making her way to the bathroom and you slump into the couch with a whine. You definitely don’t spend the next 20 minutes thinking about the blonde in your shower and then listening to the sound of the shower turning off and her feet padding down your hallway and into the guest room. Don’t think about Jack, only clad in a towel with beads of water dripping down her body. Nope. Definitely not. 

She walks into the room a while later, hair curled and a light layer of makeup on. She’s wearing a grey-blue shirt dress that falls to just below her knees. It's cinched in the waist by a belt the same colour as the dress and your eyes follow the path of white buttons down the centre of the dress, the first two undone but still completely modest. Her feet are bare from socks as she makes her way into your living room and pops herself on the couch. “God, I needed that.” She laughs, a bright smile on her face. You smile at her and you both fall into easy conversation.

Ellie comes by an hour or so later to drop off Jack’s laptop and a handful of files from different cases. “I can come in and help!” Jack had gone to the other room and you use the opportunity to pipe up hopefully, desperation clear in your eyes. You just wanted to _do_ something. 

“It’s one day off. I’m sure you can cope.” Ellie’s voice is full of mirth and you pout. Her eyes sparkle, a smirk filling her face. “Are you really complaining about spending the whole day with Jack?” Your mouth moves, no words coming out as you stare at Ellie in shock, a slight pink tinging your face. No way. There was no way she knew you only the realisation yourself last night! Before you can find something to say Jack’s entering the room again and you’re kind of thankful that you don’t need to come up with a weak response.

\----

You attempt to read, picking up a book you hadn’t touched in months. You’re both sitting on your couch, you curled into one corner. While Jack sits the other side, legs crossed, laptop on her lap and glasses resting on her head as she looks between the screen and the case file next to her.

She looks really cute like this, eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she fiddles with the pen she had in her hand. She chews lightly on her bottom lip and you stare, transfixed, as you flashback to the night before. You and Jack had kissed. Like that had actually happened? Her lips had been so soft but that kiss was full of hunger and passion and even thinking about it sent a shiver of heat through your body. Should you talk about it? No. There was nothing to talk about. It was for a case. You were working. There-

“I can practically hear you thinking.” Your eyes snap away from her lips as Jack turns her head to face you, eyebrows raised. “Everything ok?” 

Your mind screams at you to think as you try to stop the panic from showing on your face. “Yeah, I just zoned out.” It’s the lamest excuse ever and Jack’s eyebrow raises in suspicion. “I’m going to get coffee. Want some?” 

“Sure.” Jack shoots you an inquisitive look as you scurry up from the couch but lets the conversation drop. You get a few more looks over the next hour but she never says anything and you just bury your head in your book and pretend not to notice. 

It doesn’t take long for a dull ache to make its way into your head, that, combined with the tiredness behind your eyes, well, it’s no surprise you end up falling asleep. Your book falls into your lap as you sleep curled into the couch. When Jack notices you a soft smile tugs at her lips. She spares a sympathetic thought to the crank you were going to wake up with with your neck at that angle before getting up and making her way into the guest bedroom to grab a blanket. She takes the book from you, making sure the bookmark is in place before draping the blanket over you. You shuffle slightly in your spot, your lips slapping lightly and Jack grins before going back to her work. 

You wake to the smell of Jack surrounding you and subconsciously snuggle closer to it, a content smile tugging at your lips as the blanket tickles your nose. You’re eventually pulled from the happiness when a sharp pain shoots through your neck and you release a whine. You hear Jack’s laugh and it prompts you to roll your head round to face her. Your eyes are half-open and you yawn as you watch the blonde’s eyes twinkle at you. 

“Morning.” She smirks. 

“How long was I out?” You ask, sitting up properly as you begin to massage the knot that had formed in your neck.

“Only about 30 minutes. Here let me.” She bats your hand away and before you can protest her soft hands begin to knead away the knot. You gasp but quickly settle back into the feeling as her hands expertly work at your neck. 

“You’re really good-” Your words are cut off by a moan as she hits the spot and you feel Jack’s hand momentarily still before she continues. Your face is on fire as you curse yourself for your strong reaction. 

“Thank you.” You turn to face Jack, her hands dropping from your neck and she doesn’t quite meet your eyes. Your stomach rumbles and you’re suddenly reminded you haven’t eaten yet today. “Lunch?” 

Jack laughs at the noise. “Sure.” She follows you to your kitchen, leaning against the counter as you move around the room looking through your cupboards for ideas. 

“Anything you fancy? Pasta? Cheese toasties? Takeout?” You list things as you piece meals together in your head, waiting for Jack to respond. When she doesn’t, you turn around, eyebrows raised in question.

She’s shaking her head as if to dispel thoughts and your eyebrows furrow in concern. “Sorry, uh, I don’t mind, I’m good with anything.” 

You roll your eyes playfully, leaning against the counter opposite her. “Well, that’s not helpful.” 

Jack smirks “It’s your house, you pick.” 

“I thought you didn’t care about ‘stupid housing etiquette’.” You grin as you recite her works back to her from the night before. Jack rolls her eyes, huffing a laugh. 

“Fine. I wouldn’t protest to grilled cheese.” Your smile widens in triumph and you make your way around the kitchen and make lunch. You both sit at your breakfast table as you eat. Afterwards, you wash up the mess from lunch while Jack dries and returns things to your cupboard. It doesn’t take her long to work out where everything goes and your heart is fluttering the whole time at the domesticity of the situation. Every time Jack would playfully bump your shoulder or your hands would brush you’d feel heat prickle at your cheeks. 

You return to your living room after everything is clean and away. Jack returns to work and you huff as you flick through your book without really reading the words. It doesn’t take long for boredom to officially take over and you dump your book on the coffee table before hiking your feet onto the couch and turn to face Jack. You tap her side with your foot. 

“Can I help you?” She doesn’t turn to face you but you can see the smile tugging at her lip as she continues to type. 

“Whatcha doing?” 

“Working.” 

“Gibbs’ case?”

“No, Warrick’s.” Your face lights up at that, and you shuffle forwards towards Jack who has now turned to look at you, smirking at your actions. 

“Can I help?” Jack goes to protest but you cut her off before she can finish. “You said that I couldn’t help Gibbs, nothing about Warrick.” Jack rolls her eyes and you know she’s about to refuse. “Please!” You release your puppy dog eyes and Jack huffs a laugh as she tries not to let the smile spread across her face. “I’m feeling fine. I’ve eaten and slept. And I promise if I get a headache or something I’ll stop!” Your bottom lip juts out “I’m just so bored Jack.” 

Jack sighs and your face breaks out into a wide smile as she passes you one of the case files from the table. “You’re insufferable.” You stick your tongue out before squealing in excitement moving back slightly, not bothering to go back to the other side of the couch as you bury your head in the case file.

You spend the next few hours working. Jack refuses to give you anymore case files after you’ve already finished assessing two so you spam Ellie and Nick with messages until they agree to email over the paperwork you still need to finish. Jack grumbles about that but doesn’t bother trying to persuade you to stop, probably relieved you’ve stopped bugging her. It’s mid-afternoon when you both finish for the day. No one is willing to send you any more work and Jack’s finished everything she can do outside the office. 

Jack hangs around for a few more hours, you watch some tv together and chat, she tells you that she’s thinking about planning a holiday to France in the summer. She leaves at 7 after _a lot_ of assurances that you’ll be fine. She doesn’t think you should be back in the office tomorrow but apart from your headache this morning you’d been pretty much fine. No worsening symptoms at all so there was no reason you couldn’t come back. Your car was still at the navy yard though so you agree to allow her to pick you up in the morning.

You can’t stop smiling for the rest of the evening.

\----

You say goodbye to Jack when you get off the elevator and she only waves to the team as she heads up to her office. You head to your desk feeling like you’re floating on air. It’s not until you sit down that you notice Tim’s, Nick’s and Ellie’s wide smirks. “What?” The defensiveness is clear in your tone as your eyes narrow, and that only prompts them to smirk wider.

“You and Jack huh?” You roll your eyes at Nick. 

“No. We’re just friends.” 

“I think that kiss says differently,” Ellie smirks and you feel your cheeks heat up. 

“It was for a case. We were just doing our jobs.” 

“That was _not_ a working kiss. Would you have kissed Torres like that?” 

Your face scrunches up at the thought, and you ignore Nick’s noise of mock outrage. “If the case called for it then yes.” And you would. You just wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much, or at all. 

Ellie hums. “Right, and you would have gotten so consumed in it that Gibbs had to interrupt right?” 

“It-” 

“ _It was for a case_ ” Ellie mimics and you roll your eyes releasing a long-suffering sigh in annoyance. Ellie just smirks proudly and you don’t have the energy to fight her anymore because you could feel the heat seeping up your cheeks. You didn’t want to deal with their teasing...What if Jack heard? It wasn’t exactly like they were subtle and you really didn’t want her to get awkward around you. 

“You good, Y/N?” Gibbs asks as he enters the room, he walks over to where you’re sitting at your desk, placing a hand on your shoulder. 

“All good boss, excited to be back.” You smile up at the man who just chuckles.

“From what I heard you didn’t exactly take a day off.” You shrug in response which just makes Gibbs chuckle more as he chucks his empty coffee cup in the trash. “We’ve got a case.” 

The case leaves Jack with a whole staff of people to profile and from the way she hadn’t appeared from her office in the last 3 hours you were pretty sure it wasn’t going great. Tim and Gibbs were in MTAC and you didn’t have anything to do as you’d already finished going through financial records, so you decide to use the lull and go and fetch coffee for the both of you.

She’s furiously typing away when you arrive. Glasses discarded on her desk and she’d tied her hair up out of her face at some point in an off-centre ponytail. You knock lightly on the door and Jack doesn’t look up from the laptop when she responds. “I’m working on your damn profiles, Gibbs.” 

“Not Gibbs.” You smirk but Jack doesn’t look up, just continues to type rapidly. You make your way into her office, stopping in front of her desk. “I thought you could use a coffee and a break. I know that Gibbs has you-” 

“Do I look like I have time for a break?” Jack snaps, her voice is sharp and cutting and it makes you take a step back in surprise. 

“No, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need one. You’ve worked right through lunch.” 

“I’ll eat once these profiles are done and they’ll be done a heck of a lot quicker if people stopped distracting me!” 

You huff. “Wow, ok. Fine. Here’s your coffee.” You place the coffee on her desk with a little too much force and the hot liquid splashes your hand slightly but you ignore the pain as you storm out of her office, barely refraining from slamming the door in the process. Hurt radiates through your chest as you make your way back to the bullpen and you curse yourself for caring so much. She hadn’t so much glanced at you the whole time you were there and all you were trying to do was make sure she was okay! 

You’re muttering angrily to yourself when you get back to your desk and Tim’s eyes widen in surprise. “Are you ok?” 

“I try to be nice and bring her coffee and what does she do? Snaps at me!” You growl, flopping into your desk chair and then opening your desk draw and closing it again just to give yourself the satisfaction of slamming something. 

Tim flashes you a sympathetic smile. “I was just about to head down and interrogate Jones. He’s an ass. Do you wanna do it? Channel some of that anger?” 

You jump at the chance. Unsurprisingly it calms you right down and you walk out of the room with a wide smirk on your face and with a 6’0 man unable to look you in the eye as he sinks into his chair. 

“Feeling better?” Tim laughs and you grin.

“Much, thank you.” 

The rest of the day flies past. The ache in your chest only returns when Jack comes to the bullpen to present the profiles of the 3 men she’d narrowed it down to, each one having a worse rap sheet then the last. She barely looks at you the whole time and before you can talk to her she’s off again. 

So to say you were grateful to go home was an understatement. All the tension you’d been holding in your body throughout the day washes away as you open your door to your apartment. You dump your bag on the floor, shrugging off your coat and flicking away your shoes as you throw yourself onto your couch and sink into the pillows. You spend the next hour watching some shitty reality tv thing that you only really watch to please Jack and you’re just contemplating getting your ass off the sofa and making yourself dinner when your doorbell rings. 

You huff, tiredly pulling yourself from the couch and to your door. You open it up and your eyes widen in surprise when you see Jack the other side. She’s got a sheepish smile on her face and is holding a pizza box. “I’m really sorry for how I snapped at you earlier. I was stressed but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. Pizza?” 

A smile tugs at your lips despite your best efforts and you step to the side to allow her to enter. Jack’s smile widens and you see the relief cross her face. “I’m only accepting your apology because you brought pizza.” It’s a joke, you’d forgiven her by tomorrow even if she didn’t apologise. You couldn’t stay mad at her. Smirking, you follow her towards your living room. 

“Why do you think I brought it.” She quips back, winking. She’s got a devilish smirk on her face that sends a shot of heat straight between your legs. You feel your face heating up as you release a choked laugh. Jack, thankfully, doesn’t notice, just takes her spot on your couch and opens the pizza box. The warmth in your chest that had become a frequent occurrence when spending time with the blonde, returns with full force as you both chat and eat pizza.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just kept adding more to this chapter and couldn’t seem to stop so it’s a long one (again!) 2 more chapters after this I believe and then this story will be coming to a close. Anyway, as always, feedback is welcome and very much appreciated :)

Ducking under the police tape you make your way onto the crime scene. Police officers were dotted around, and members of the public were beginning to surround the tape to see if they could spot what was happening, but you pay them no mind as you head towards the body. Jimmy’s already there when you arrive. “What we got?”

“Woman, early 20’s. Death is more than likely because of the knife sticking out of her neck.” You move round to get a better view of the victim as Jimmy talks. Stopping dead in your tracks, your whole body freezing up when you see Sam lying on the floor staring up at you. Apart from it’s the Sam you knew in college, hair dark with bright pink ends now turning red as they stick to the blood dripping down her neck. Her eyes are wide and frozen in fear and your heart hammers in your chest as her eyes bore into yours and blood begins to seep out of them and down her cheeks. The bright red standing out against her ghostly skin. 

“Y/N...” Sam breathes. You can’t do anything but watch, paralysed in fear as tears begin to stream down your face. “You did this to me. I’m dead because you were too late!” Sam’s voice is cold, matching the glare in her eyes.

“I’m sorry.” You croak. “I’m so sorry Sam. I’m so sorry.” Your eyes squeeze tightly shut, arms wrapping around yourself as you fall to the floor and deep sobs wrack through you. 

“Y/N.” 

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” 

“Y/N!” Your eyes snap open, your body shaking as you take deep laboured breaths looking around the room manically as you take in your surroundings. You’re in your living room, on the couch. “Hey, you’re safe. It was just a nightmare.” You focus on the words, on Jack’s soothing presence as she holds you close, a hand wiping the sweat-soaked hair from your face. Your whole body is trembling and you reach for Jack’s free hand, your sweaty palm grips hers tightly as you try to calm yourself down focusing on her stream of soothing words. 

“I’m...Sorry.” You say between deep breaths, voice hoarse as your body begins to relax, your heartbeat returning to a normal rhythm. You can’t look at Jack as embarrassment floods through you. You’d both been watching a movie together and you must have drifted off. Jack turns your head to face her with a finger to your chin, a kind smile on her face despite the concern in her eyes. 

“Are you ok?” You nod, unable to find the words. Jack starts to detangle herself from you, your whole body goes to protest but she only reaches for the glass of water on the table, handing it to you and easing back into the couch. You take small sips from the glass, allowing it to soothe your throat. “Did you want to talk about it?” 

You shake your head as images of Sam’s dead body flash through your mind. You both sit together for a while, Jack distracting you with light conversation, hands still tightly gripped together as your head rests on her shoulder. She only stops when there’s a ping from her phone. You can feel the hesitation in her body as she decides between staying with you or looking at her phone. It could be work so you make the decision for her, moving your head from her shoulder and letting go of her hand. Jack smiles at you before moving to the other side of the couch to her phone. 

“Work?” You croak, voice dry from not being used.

Jack chuckles as she reads the text, shooting a quick response before dropping the phone back on the couch and returning to her seat next to you. “Nope, just Gibbs.”

“If you need to go-” 

“I’d much rather be here.” Your face spreads into a wide smile, stomach fluttering with butterflies at the conviction in her tone and the soft smile she sends you. You pull yourself from the couch, desperate to get out of your clothes which now stink of dry sweat. Jack’s own shirt is stained with a mixture of your tears and sweat and your embarrassment from earlier returns.

“I’m going to go jump in the shower quickly. Feel free to grab one of my shirts that isn’t covered in my slobber.” You duck your head as Jack looks down to her shirt, surprise covering her face. 

“I hadn’t even noticed. Thank you.” You disappear to the bathroom while Jack heads in the direction of your bedroom.

When you return 20 minutes later, in a pair of comfy pyjamas, Jack’s sitting on your couch now sporting your old college t-shirt. Your heart flutters at the sight, probably enjoying seeing Jack in your clothes a little too much.

“Feeling better?” Jack asks when she notices you entering the room. Her feet are tucked underneath her and she’s drinking, what you assume to be, coffee. You take your seat and Jack hands you a mug.

“Thank you and yep, much better.” You take a sip, your suspicions confirmed, and you wonder how Jack always manages to make the best coffee. “It was about Sam, the nightmare.” Jack reaches out squeezing your hand before releasing it again. Jack was always a touchy person but tonight was a whole other level and you were basking in it, butterflies exploding through your stomach each time. “I get them occasionally, but they’ve been happening a lot more the last couple of weeks.” 

“That’s going to happen with the 6-month anniversary being tomorrow.” Jack smiles sadly. “I know I’ve already said this but seriously, if you want something, _anything_ , tomorrow I’m just a phone call away, ok?” 

You chew your lip, the idea you’d been tossing around your head the last couple of days coming to the front of your mind. “I’m going to Great Falls in the morning, it’s the place I feel most connected to her, it brings back a lot of good memories. Do you think you’d want to join? It’d be nice to have the company. I mean if you aren’t busy or if you don’t want to that’s-”

“I’d love to.” Jack cuts you off with a soft smile. 

“Ok. Cool.” Your face lights up into a wide grin. Your head signals to the tv where the movie is sitting paused. “Do you want to continue the movie?” 

“Sure.” You press play and the both of you sink into the couch next to one another, coffee mugs in hand and despite the space on the couch, sides pressed together.

\----

“Hi, Y/N.” Robert sighs, patting your shoulder as he slowly lowers himself down onto the grass next to you despite his knee’s protests.

“Hey, Robert.” You offer the man a sad smile. “I can’t believe it’s been 6 months.” Your eyes tear up and Robert pulls you into a side hug, placing a kiss to your head.

“Me either.” You’re both quiet for a while after that. Just sitting in your own thoughts as you think about Sam. The bouquet of red, yellow and white flowers stand out against the granite headstone, you’d made sure to buy them fresh this morning and they bring a small smile to your face as you think back to the apartment you’d shared with Sam and how’d she’d always made sure to have at least one vase of fresh flowers at all times. 

“I should be going, I told Jack I’d be at hers by 9.30.” You sigh, your bottom had long since gone numb as you’d been sitting on the grass for about an hour. You pull your head up from where it was resting on Robert’s shoulder and push yourself up into a standing position, wiping the loose grass from your trousers in the process. 

“I’ll walk you to your car.” You hold your arm out and Robert uses it for support as he stands. You look back at Sam’s grave as you both walk slowly to the car, smiling sadly before turning back to Robert.

“How’s work been?” 

“Busy.” You laugh. “It’s been one case after another, which isn’t unusual, but doesn’t make it any less exhausting.” 

Robert smiles knowingly, his eyes lighting up with old memories from his time as a lawyer. He hums. “Yes, I remember that feeling...And are you seeing anyone? Jack maybe?” 

Your eyes widen in shock, steps momentarily faltering as you clear your throat. “No. Jack and I are just friends.” 

“You talk about her a lot for someone who’s _just_ friends with her,” Robert smirks. You’d spoken about her a lot at your lunch a couple of weeks before but that’s because he’d asked about your healing lip and that meant a brief overrun of the case (and you definitely _did not_ mention the kiss! It hadn’t been mentioned between you and Jack at all since it happened, despite it constantly playing on a loop in your head). 

“I speak about her a normal amount!” You try to protest but Robert’s smirk just widens, and you roll your eyes deflating. “Fine. I may have some feelings, but she’s my co-worker and it would be too messy if it didn’t last.” You shrug. You’d said the same thing to yourself constantly the past couple of weeks because it _would_ be messy and you didn’t even know if Jack was interested in you in that way anyway and you weren’t about to make a fool of yourself or jeopardise your friendship. 

Robert suddenly stops, turning you around to face him with a hand to your arm and a serious expression, sadness shining in his eyes. “You light up when you talk about her, and from what you’ve said she seems like someone who’d be worth the risk. Don’t you think?” 

“Of course, but-” 

“Yes, there’s the possibility of awkwardness for a while if she doesn’t feel the same way, but Y/N… if she does…” You squeeze your eyes shut as your heart flutters with possibility. “I just want you to be happy.” 

“I know, and I am happy.” Robert sighs as you both continue walking again. Your eyes dart to Robert and then away again as you bite your lip. “How’s Felicity?” 

“She’s okay, the 6-month anniversary has hit her hard but she’s gaining control of her anger and she’s working full time again.” 

“That’s good.” You both stop when you reach your car. “I’ll see you next week.” You pull Robert into a hug and he squeezes you tight.

“Love you kid.”

“Love you too.” You pull away and with one last small smile get into your car and head to Jack’s.

\----

You’d texted Jack to let her know you were on your way and when you arrive she’s just locking up her house. Your eyes can’t help but trail over her toned legs as she makes her way towards the car with a smile. She’s wearing khaki green shorts that fall to mid-thigh, dark brown hiking boots and a simple white t-shirt. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail and covered by a black baseball cap. She looks glorious and as she slides into the car, dumping her backpack by her feet, your chest flutters. “Morning.”

“Morning. Sleep well?” You ask, putting the car into drive. 

“Out like a light.” Jack grins. “You?” 

“Eh, alright…” You shrug. You hadn’t gotten more than 4 hours sleep but you hadn’t expected any more not when you couldn’t stop thinking about Sam. Jack had left last night after the movie had ended and you’d been up for hours afterwards using your restlessness as an opportunity to finish the housework you’d been neglecting and distracting yourself with an old cold case file. Jack’s hand reaches out to your knee, a sad smile on her face.

You sniff, feeling your emotions well up and try to play them off with a laugh. “Ugh. I promise I’m not going to be a blubbery mess today.” 

“I wouldn’t mind if you were. I’m here for you today Y/N, whatever you want.” You’d usually tease her with a suggestive comment about ‘whatever you want’ but today you just offer the blonde a smile and then turn your attention back to the road. Jack removes her hand and you try not to miss the comfort of her touch. 

It’s an hour’s drive to the park so you end up putting the radio on when your conversation dulls. You listen, fascinated, as Jack sings along quietly. Her voice is so soft, and you could easily spend hours listening to her. “I didn’t know you could sing.” 

Jack’s face goes scarlet as her words trail off. She clears her throat. “Oh, I can’t-”

“Yes, you can.” You cut her off, smirking. “I’m going to have to take you to karaoke night.”

“No! Absolutely not. Singing in the shower, yes.” (You try hard not to think of that image) “Singing when cooking, yes. Singing in public? I’d rather be shot.” 

You roll your eyes at her dramatics, laughing. “Alright.” It’s a few minutes later that warmth spreads through your chest when you realise what it means for Jack to sing in your company. You can’t help the smile that tugs at your lips.

\----

“Oh wow, this place is beautiful.” Jack’s eyes dance with wonder as you walk the path through the tree’s side by side.

“Yeah, it is.” You breathe. Jack’s watching you curiously and you can see the questions in her eyes. You release a nervous chuckle. “Uh, sophomore year of college. We’d just finished our final day of exams. I had my psych one, which I’d been stressing about for weeks and was convinced I had failed afterwards.” 

Jack laughs. “And you ended up passing with flying marks?” 

“3rd highest in the class.” Your cheeks tinge pink as Jack smirks, bumping her shoulder against yours. “So, Sam said we needed a break, so I didn’t wallow in self-pity. She’d been here before a couple of times and thought it might be somewhere I would like. She was right. It became a frequent hangout spot. I stopped coming after the whole Sam and Felicity situation but since she died...It’s been the place I feel most connected to her.” You shrug.

“Well, I’m honoured you’re allowing me to intrude.” Jack smiles softly. 

“Not an intrusion Jack.” You smirk. Your fingers brush against hers causing you to cough as you try to dampen the blush spreading over your cheeks. You snatch your hand away, moving to twiddle your own fingers together in an attempt to play it off as nothing, Jack shoots a curious look in your direction, but you pretend not to notice as you avert your eyes.

You both fall into easy conversation as you hike through the trees. You tell her stories of you and Sam, and Jack listens with interest. She barely contains her laughter when you tell her the story of the time you’d almost gotten lost as you’d walked off the marked path and into the trees. She tells you stories about her time in San Diego, about how her relationship with Faith was developing. You were so happy she was getting the opportunity to get to know her daughter. Jack’s face lit up with pure joy and love every time she mentioned her. 

You eventually find your way to the bridge you’d said goodbye to Sam at 6 months ago. Jack’s words trail off as you make your way into the clearing. “Oh wow.” She breathes and you watch her closely as her face lights up. She looks absolutely stunning; her mouth opens in awe as you make your way onto the bridge. The water rushes loudly beneath you, the sun shining brightly down on you both as a slight breeze whistles through the trees. Jack tilts her head up as she closes her eyes breathing in the smell of nature and savouring the feel of the rays of sun on her face. 

“I thought you might like it here.” You smile softly and Jack turns to look at you. She looks so content, a small smile on her face as her nose scrunches up and eyes squint as the sun shines in them. She looks adorable. Your eyes fall to her mouth, glued to the way her teeth tugs at her plump lip. She takes a step closer, causing your breath to catch. Your eyes go back to Jack’s and she holds your gaze, her brown eyes shining with something you don’t recognise.

“Really is beautiful.” Jack breathes. Your heart beats loudly in your chest at her words, you can’t help but wonder if she’s talking about you or the view. She smirks before stepping away and turning back to the view as if it were nothing. Clearing your throat, you turn around too, hoping your confusion wasn’t showing on your face.

“This is my favourite place. Fewer people because they all head to the proper viewing points so you aren’t distracted by the noise of them. You can just close your eyes and breathe.” You follow the actions as you talk, taking a deep breath as you savour the sounds around you. Jack’s arm brushes against yours bringing a smile to your face. You both stay like that for a while, enjoying the sounds with your arms pressed against one another, you don’t think you’d ever felt such peace. 

You make your way down closer to the river. Finding a space free of people, you sit on the large rocks and both eat the lunch you’d packed. Afterwards, you head back, deliberately taking the longer route to Jack’s place, not wanting the day to end, and if Jack notices she doesn’t say anything. 

Before you know it you’re back outside her house. Popping open the boot of your car, you follow Jack as she fishes out her bag, shutting the boot with a click as she slides her backpack on. “Thank you for today.” You say awkwardly. 

“I had a great morning, thank you for inviting me.” Jack leans back against the boot of your car and you have to make a conscious effort to not let your eyes trail down her body.

“I’ll see you Monday then.” 

Jack’s head tilts, brows furrowing as she pushes herself off your car. “Didn’t I tell you? I’m off to San Diego tomorrow.” 

Your smile falters “Oh, no you didn’t. How long for?” 

“They want help on a case, so it depends how long it lasts. Shouldn’t be more than the week though.” 

You really shouldn’t be upset at the prospect of not seeing Jack for one week. “Oh, well, I hope it goes well. Maybe you’ll even get the chance to go surfing again.” 

Jack hums, her face lighting up. “A girl can dream, but if I do get the chance, I’ll make sure to send photos.”

You clear your throat, face heating up as images of Jack surfing in a tight wetsuit fill your mind. Jack’s smirking as if she knows _exactly_ what you’re thinking. Which totally isn’t a possibility...right? “Right...Then I’ll see you soon. Let me know when your flight lands.” 

“Will do.” Jack grins, waving goodbye as she makes the way up the path to her house and you get back into your car.

\----

Apart from a few texts on Sunday, which were just Jack confirming she’d gotten to San Diego safely, you hadn’t heard from her and it was now Wednesday. You hadn’t realised just how used you were to seeing Jack most days until now. You kept expecting her to appear in the bullpen or be waiting in the observation room when you arrived. Yesterday you’d automatically made your way to Jack’s office to drop off her morning coffee only to be reminded she wasn’t here when you couldn’t open her office door. You missed her, missed seeing her face.

You could just text her, you _should_ just text her but you were trying to hold out just to prove to yourself that your feelings for the blonde weren’t getting out of control. It wasn’t working and every minute the urge to text her was growing stronger, your eyes constantly going to your phone in the hopes she’d text first. 

“Are you even listening?” Your eyes snap away from your phone and to Ellie who’s sitting opposite you, brows raised. The rest of the team had gone home for the night but you and Ellie had gotten into this cold case and before you knew it, it was 2 hours later and you were sitting on the floor in the middle of the bullpen eating Chinese food and discussing theories. 

Your face heats up as you flash her a sheepish smile. “Sorry. What were you saying?” 

“Just text her.” Ellie rolls her eyes. 

“She’ll be back in a few days and I don’t want to bother her.”

“I think it’s literally impossible for you to bother her.” Ellie quips. “Anyway, she’d probably appreciate the distraction. Apparently, one of the Agents she’s working with is driving her up the wall.” 

“You’ve spoken to her?” Ellie’s brow shoots up in a way that says _‘seriously’_. Your duck your head. “Right of course you have.” _Because she isn’t avoiding Jack to prove a point to herself_. “I’ll message her later.” 

Ellie rolls her eyes, smirking. “Sure, you will.” She looks to her watch, eyes widening in surprise. It prompts you to do the same and it shocks you when you see it’s already 10 pm. “Alright to call it a night?”

“Yeah, sounds good.” You both tidy up, throwing away the packaging from your food and cleaning up the files you had lying around before both making your way to your cars and home.

You type about 5 different messages before settling on _Hey, how’s San Diego going?_ Simple. Casual. You knew you were overthinking this all way too much but you couldn’t seem to stop. Slipping your phone into your pocket you situate yourself in your living room with your freshly poured glass of wine. You put on the tv but you’re only half watching as your eyes constantly flick to your phone to see if Jack’s responded. You’ve nearly finished the glass when she finally does.

_It’s alright. Tough case but the hotel I’m at has the best room service so I’m making do. How’s DC?_

_Do they do pancakes? Room service pancakes are somehow always amazing. DC’s pretty much the same as always. It’s been weird not seeing you around the office though._ You hesitate adding the last bit but click send before you can think it through too much. Your eyes widen in surprise when instead of a response your phone lights up with Jack’s caller ID. 

“Hey.” 

“Hey. Is this ok? It’s easier than texting.” You smile. You didn’t think it was possible to miss someone’s voice.

“Yeah, of course.” Your voice is too giddy. “So, pancakes?” 

“The pancakes are glorious, I had them this morning.” Jack laughs. Rustling sounds through the phone as Jack moves, settling back into her bed. You empty the last bit of your wine in one gulp before filling the glass again. “Were you at the office late?” 

“Gibbs let us go at 8 but Ellie and I were there till 10, got too invested in a case file.” 

“Sounds about right. Of course, you were.” Jack chuckles affectionately.

You roll your eyes playfully. “I heard that there’s an agent that’s been a joy to work with.” 

“Talking about me, huh?” Your cheeks heat up, was Jack _flirting_? When you don’t respond Jack laughs. “But yes, Agent Pierce. He’s lead agent on the case and not exactly happy that I was asked to assist. Huge Ego.” You can practically hear Jack’s eye roll. 

“Sounds delightful. If he’s not letting you help, you’ll just have to come home early.” You bite your lip knowing your voice is too hopeful. 

“Missing me already?” Despite her teasing tone, you can tell she’s actually curious about the answer, maybe even a little hopeful. 

“Of course. I told you, it’s weird not seeing you around the office.” You’ve had too much wine, there is no way sober you would have let that thought pass your lips. You should be pushing this conversation back to safety. Not talking about missing Jack! She’s quiet, just her breathing sounding through the phone. You swallow roughly, gripping the phone tighter in your hand.

Jack’s voice is quiet when she talks “I miss you too.” Your cheeks heat up, a smile you can’t control blooming over your face. Jack clears her throat. “He’s finally beginning to realise I’m just here to help and not to undermine him or make his life difficult.” Jack yawns loudly, trying, and failing, to muffle the sound and you laugh. 

“You should get some sleep.” 

Jack hums. “Probably, but I’m enjoying this.”

“Me too, but you’re only going to regret this when you’re tired in the morning, I don’t want to get the blame for grumpy Jack.” 

“Hey! I don’t get grumpy!”

“ _Sure_ , you believe that.” Your voice softens. “Seriously, go and get some sleep. I probably should too. It's nearly midnight here.” Even as you say it you know it sounds weak; you’d speak to her all night if you could. 

Jack sighs. “You’re probably right. We should do something-” Jack cuts off, a loud knock sounding from assumingly, her hotel room door. “Sorry, one sec.” Jack removes the phone from her ear. It rustles as she makes her way across the room. Your heart is fluttering in your chest. ‘We should do something’? Does that mean a date? 

Your thoughts cut off as you hear voices through the phone. “Seriously Sloane. It’s not even 8.30 and you’re in your pyjamas.” 

You laugh. Images of Jack in pyjamas floating through your mind. Maybe she’s wearing the ones she wore when she stayed over. Or shorts, you could see her sleeping in shorts, especially considering the hot San Diego weather. Maybe the expensive silk ones you could get, probably in blue or red. Cute and sexy, like every goddamn thing about the women. You groan, frustrated at yourself for letting your thoughts wander.

“Hey, sorry. It’s Izzy. She's demanding we go down to the bar for drinks.” Jack sighs. 

“Oh, Izzy’s in San Diego?” You swallow roughly. Jack hanging out with her ex-girlfriend, totally normal and not something that should bother you.

“Yeah, _apparently_ she’s here to visit some old friends-”

“I am! I didn’t even know you were in San Diego until Lewis mentioned it yesterday.” 

“-And ‘coincidentally’ ran into me today when I was getting coffee.”

“Ok, that was planned, but I knew you’d ignore my calls if I suggested we meet up. You’ve been surprisingly hard to contact the last couple of months.” Bitterness seeps into Izzy’s tone. 

“I’ll leave you to it. Have a good night, Jack.” 

“And you. Get some sleep. Breakfast at the Diner on Monday before work?” The hope radiating through Jack’s voice brings a smile to your face. 

“Sounds great,” Jack says one last bye before ending the call. You sigh, draining the remainder of your glass before switching your tv off and heading to bed. 

You try to ignore your swirling thoughts. Was Jack flirting with you tonight? Or was that just hopeful thinking and the effects of the wine. Izzy and Jack were barely friends and Jack had mentioned before that they were _long_ over. That their relationship wasn’t much of a relationship anyway. You were surprised that they hadn’t been seeing each other though. Groaning you pushing your thoughts away. It was no use agonising over it all. Jack would be home in a few days and then everything would be back to normal. And normal was good.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *screams* we're getting so close to the end now!

It was a good morning. You’d actually had a full night’s sleep and were feeling refreshed after finally getting a break from two straight weeks of heavy cases. The traffic had been amazing, which was unheard of, meaning you’d also had enough time to stop off at your favourite coffee shop and still arrived to work 15 minutes earlier than normal. You were beaming. Despite the heavy cases, there had been an energy building between you and Jack the last couple of weeks. The soft smiles and touches growing more often. Ellie had noticed too. She kept sending you smirks from across the bullpen any time Jack appeared, and you knew she was holding back from asking questions. 

Your mind constantly played over the morning in the diner after she’d returned from San Diego, both of you lingering too long in a hug and the way her fingers had stroked the inside of your wrist at one point when you’d been eating. A smile brightens up your face as you think about it. You’d decided last night that you were finally going to do it. You were going to ask Jacqueline Sloane out on a date.

As you got off the elevator, wiping the remains of a pastry from your mouth and taking a sip of your coffee, you were surprised to see Ellie, Nick, and Jimmy all surrounding Tim and his desk talking in hushed whispers. 

Jimmy was the first to notice you, alerting the others to your presence with a too-loud “Y/N!” that had them all whipping around to face you. Your step momentarily falters in surprise before you continue on the route to your desk. 

“Fancy seeing you here.” Jimmy laughed and you could see the others physically cringe. Nick looked like he wanted to slap him over the head.

“In the bullpen of the place I work. How shocking...” sarcasm drips from your tongue as Jimmy releases a nervous laugh.

“What Jimmy means is you’re earlier than usual, that’s all.” Ellie jumps in.

“Ok well, whatever this is” you wave your hand in their direction. “I’m pretty sure I don’t want to be involved so can we-”

“Hey, did you guys hear about Jack’s new girlfriend?” The others all groan, Nick releasing a few swear words as Jimmy says a nervous ‘oh boy’. Your head snaps around to stare at Kasie who’s just entered the bullpen. She freezes as she takes in everyone’s reactions, her gaze finally settling on you as she breathes a quiet ‘oh’. 

“Jack’s got a girlfriend?” Your voice is strangled as your heart drops into your stomach. She couldn’t, could she? You would have noticed; she would have said something. Had you been imagining everything for the last couple of weeks? Your mind swarms as your gaze turns to the team. 

Kasie, now frozen in fear, looks to the rest of the team for help as they all try to avoid both yours and her gaze. Finally, Ellie sighs meeting your eyes. “There’s a rumour going around...Agent Gomez saw Jack getting coffee with a woman yesterday after work, and they seemed _pretty_ cosy. Apparently, there was even a kiss.”

“Right.” You lower yourself into your chair. _Right ok._ You take a deep breath trying to calm yourself as your hands skim over your desk and you attempt to keep yourself together, everyone watching you closely. 

“It’s just a rumour though I mean-”

“Whatcha guys talking about?” Jack’s voice chimes into the bullpen as she joins the group by Tim’s desk, flashing that megawatt smile of hers. _For fuck sake_. This is what you get for having a good morning. 

“Oh, just discussing the case from yesterday.” Tim jumps in before anyone can say anything. You’re still focused on your desk, unable to lift your head and see her but if you did you know you’d see her smile dim slightly, aware of the tension in the room and the obvious lie. 

Jimmy and Kasie quickly make themselves sparse, rattling off an excuse about needing to start work. You feign interest in your computer, listening but not joining the conversation between the team and Jack. She starts laughing and you automatically lift your head, captivated by the pure joy in her voice and face. You grimace and you’re pretty sure your heart breaks at that exact moment. 

Jack must notice your unusual expression as she makes her way over to your desk, perching herself on the edge. Your heart starts hammering. “Hey, you okay?” 

You offer her a small smile “Yeah. Just a bad morning I guess.” It’s a flimsy excuse but it may have worked if Jack’s eyes hadn’t found the coffee cup sitting beside you. She looks back at you, confusion clear because she _knew_ that you only put in the effort to go all the way to Amour’s Coffee House on a good morning.

“Sure ok. Did you want to get lunch together today?” Jack bites her lip, subtitling playing with her hands and you’re surprised to see the nerves she’s usually so good at hiding. 

Did you want to get lunch? The opportunity to spend a whole 45 minutes (bar an interruption) with just Jack, you’d usually jump at the chance but...was she going to tell you about her new girlfriend? You don’t think you’re ready to hear the news from her yet, you need time to process, to be able to hide your obvious disappointment because she’d expect you to be happy for her. _You should be happy for her._ How did you get it all so wrong?

“I can’t today. Maybe tomorrow?” You offer and the way Jack’s face drops in disappointment is almost enough to make you reconsider. 

“Yeah no problem, anyway I should get back to work.” Jack stands, hands signalling in the direction of her office, her eyes still watching you closely, clearly confused by this whole conversation. You try to smile but it doesn’t meet your eyes. Jack just nods before turning and walking away. 

After she’s turned the corner you breathe a sigh of relief. Looking up, you notice that everyone’s finally sitting at their desks, they all offer you sad and understanding smiles. Nick goes to say something, but you cut him off before he can. 

“Nope. Whatever you’re about to say, don't.” 

“Y/N-”

“Nope. I’m not talking about this with any of you. It is what it is, let's all just move on.”

\----

You’d known you hadn’t exactly been subtle with your feelings towards Jack. You just didn’t know, apparently, the whole of NCIS knew as well if the pitiful looks you’d been getting the whole day were anything to go by. If there was one thing about NCIS you hated was how quickly gossip travelled.

“Poor Agent Y/N. She must be devastated.” You tense, stopping yourself from turning the corner into the break room as you hear your name. 

“And to find out from rumours as well? You should have seen her face when they told her.” You didn’t recognise the voices of either of the agents, but their grievous tones were enough to make your stomach crawl. 

“Poor girl. Such a pity really. I wonder what Agent Sloane thinks about it all. Do you think she knows?”

Your eyes are squeezed shut as you listen, so you don’t notice when Gibbs enters the break room from the other side. It’s not until he clears his throat, halting the women's conversation that your eyes snap open. He’s directing his piercing blue glare at them, and he doesn’t need to say anything, as the 2 agents quickly hurry out of the room. They duck their head in shame when they notice you but don’t apologise just hurry up their exit.

“T-Thank you.” You manage a small smile, stepping into the room and hoping Gibbs doesn’t notice the way your voice falters.

“Don’t mention it.” Gibbs surprises you by pulling you into a one-armed hug that you immediately relax into. “Coffee?” Gibbs asks as you pull away, sniffing and quickly wiping away the tear that had managed to escape. 

“Yeah, sure.”

Gibbs goes to get the drinks while you return to your desk and focus back on the report you’d been working on before you’d gone in search of food. Which reminds you that you still hadn’t eaten. Your stomach continues to make noises of protest and you swear you could smell grilled cheese which is obviously just your imagination, but it’s rude because it’s totally what you would have ordered if you’d gone to lunch with Jack.

The smell was only getting stronger and you look up to see if one of the others was eating only to be surprised to see Jack standing by Ellie’s desk talking to the younger woman. Your eyes zero in on the brown paper bag in Jack’s hand, there was a grease mark in one corner and your mouth waters.

Your eyes break away when you hear Jack’s laughter and heat prickles at your cheeks when you realise she’s laughing at you. “See something you like?” Her wicked smirk only makes your blush brighter as she saunters over to your desk and perches in her spot. You don’t know how to respond so instead release an awkward laugh that makes one of Jack’s brows shoot up and _really_ it should be illegal to look this good. “I know you said you couldn’t do lunch, so I thought I’d get you something cause I know you haven’t eaten yet.” Jack’s smile is soft and caring as she hands you the sandwich.

“Thank you.” You grin, opening up the bag and pulling out the grilled cheese. You take a bite and moan as you savour the glorious taste of the strong cheese. “Oh, this is good.” You say after swallowing your mouthful. When you look at Jack you notice she’s got a light blush covering her cheeks. You frown but before you can question her Gibbs strolls over and hands you the coffee he’d gone to get you and then the realisation of _why_ he’d gone to get you the coffee comes back as well. 

“Thanks, Gibbs.” The wide smile you had on your face disappears, replaced by a much smaller one as you accept the drink

“Oh, I see how it is, get me to get you food, Gibbs to get your coffee. Should we get Nick to do your paperwork next?” Jack laughs, rolling her eyes playfully at you. Her smile dulls, confusion clouding her face when she notices you’re no longer smiling. 

“Even if I was willing to do her paperwork, she’d double-check everything I’d written afterwards anyway.” Nick’s words erupt laughter from the rest of the team, and you feel your blush rising again.

“Just because I have standards.” You snark, sticking your tongue out at Nick who makes a noise of mock outrage. You can feel Jack watching you closely still but you avoid her eyes, instead, burying your face in the grilled cheese. You pay for that though when you take a too-large bite and it burns your tongue. 

“Ow! shit!” You splutter as you spit the mouthful into the trash bin behind you when you turn back around Jack’s already holding out your water bottle which you quickly accept and down half of it. She was always there for you, helping whenever you needed it. God, you don’t know how you’re going to be able to get through this without letting her know. 

“And that’s why we blow our food,” Jack says condescendingly but her eyes dance with humour. 

“Well, I didn’t do it on purpose, did I?” You don’t know where the words came from. Jack rears back in surprise, her mouth hanging open in shock at your sharp tone. You can feel your face heating up with embarrassment and you’re beginning to feel overwhelmed by how close Jack is as your mind screams _‘Girlfriend! Girlfriend! Girlfriend!’_. The others are shooting you surprised looks and you gulp, shaking your head. “Sorry, I uh,” The concern in Jack’s face is too much and you feel tears building behind your eyes. “I’ve just gotta…” You stand up from your desk, Jack tries to reach out for you but you move too fast as you head away from the bullpen. 

“Y/N!” Jack calls after you, shock still evident in her voice, but you don’t turn around, just lower your head and keep walking.

You end up on the roof of all places. The soft breeze ruffles your hair and you begin to relax as you rest against the brick wall. Holding your head in your hands, shame rushes through you. You desperately needed to get control of your emotions before you fucked everything up. Frustrated tears begin to fall down your cheeks and you wipe them away as you release a loud groan. 

You needed to get a hold of yourself. Get through the day, go home and then you could cry. Let your emotions take control for a few hours and then peace yourself back together and be the _friend_ Jack thought you were. Be supportive of her and her new girlfriend and not let your crushing disappointment show. Ever. 

The door opens from next to you and you quickly push yourself off the wall ready to make your exit when you notice it’s Ellie. You sigh and lean back against the wall as she comes and leans beside you. 

“Is she pissed?” You ask as you anxiously chew your lip, looking off into the distance instead of at the woman next to you. 

“No. She’s confused,” Ellie dips her head slightly. “And maybe also a little hurt.” 

“Oh.” You sigh. “I’ll apologise. I just needed to get out of there.” You don’t know how you’re going to apologise. _Hey, sorry I snapped at you. I just found out you have a girlfriend and I’m terribly jealous and upset because I thought there was something between us?_ You couldn’t lie to her either. She’d see through it instantly. 

“She wanted to follow. Gibbs stopped her and then Izzy phoned _again_.” 

Your heart drops into your stomach, a lump forming in your throat. “Izzy?”

“Yeah. She’s been phoning all day.” 

Understanding rushes through you. “She’s Jack’s girlfriend.” It made sense. You’d mistaken Jack’s happiness of having a new girlfriend, of reconnecting with Izzy, as excitement for you. You’d been so stupid. Of course, it was Izzy. It was always Izzy. 

“What? No way. Jack’s been avoiding her calls.” 

You shake your head, trying to keep the tears that were threatening to fall again at bay. “They met up again when she was in San Diego. They went out for drinks.” 

“That doesn’t mean they’re now dating.” 

“God Ellie, I’ve been such a fool. I was going to ask her out today. I thought…” You trail off, wiping away tears as they trickle down your cheeks. “I really thought she might…” Your eyes blur with tears and Ellie pulls you into a hug as you cry into her shoulder. Ellie squeezes tighter as your cries grow louder. 

“Hey, It’s going to be okay. Maybe you should talk-”

“No.” You shake your head, pulling away from her arms and wiping the tears from your cheeks. “She can’t ever know.”

“Y/N-”

“No.” The venom in your tone surprises her. “I’ll be fine. Her and Izzy have a history if there’s a chance Jack can be happy; I'm not going to jeopardize that.”

“And what about your happiness?”

You shrug. “I’ve done this before. I can do it again. I’ve never been great at relationships anyway, maybe this is all for the best.”

“For the record, I think you’re making a mistake.”

“I’m making the choice I can live with. I can’t risk losing her Ellie.”

Ellie wants to say more. She was convinced this was all a big misunderstanding because she’d seen the way you two looked at each other. There was just no way Jack didn’t feel the same things you did, and Ellie would bet her job on it. She doesn’t say anything though, knows there’s no use trying to fight you on this. She sighs. “Okay.”

“Okay.” You breathe a sigh of relief. “Let’s get back to work.”

Ellie nods. You send her off to the bullpen while you head to the bathroom, fixing what remains of your makeup and making sure you didn’t look like you’d been crying. You head to the good coffee shop down the street and grab some for the whole team, an apology for your outburst that they all happily accept. 

Taking a deep breath and squaring your shoulders, you ascend the stairs to Jack’s office. Every part of you was screaming that you should run in the opposite direction, avoid her for as long as possible until you could get over your feelings for her, but you knew she didn’t deserve that and you don’t think you’d even have the willpower to do it. 

Jack’s sitting at her desk, biting the hangnail on her thumb. She’s looking at a folder, but you can tell she’s not taking anything in. You knock lightly on the door, swallowing roughly when Jack looks to you, her eyes a sea of emotions. She doesn’t speak. 

Stepping further into her office, you place the coffee cup on her desk in front of her. “I’m sorry... about my outburst.” You can barely hold her eyes. Jack takes the coffee, taking a sip as she waits for you to continue. “I don’t know what came over me. It was totally unprofessional-” 

“Unprofessional?” Jack’s brows shoot up, shock and hurt seeping into her tone. “I don’t give a crap about professionalism. I care about you.” Your eyes squeeze shut as your stomach flutters. “I care about what made you so upset.” Jack gets up from her chair, shutting her office door before coming to stand beside you. She grabs your hand turning you so you face her. Pulling together all the confidence you can muster you meet her eyes, removing your hand from hers. You miss Jack’s hurt look as you wrap your arms around your waist and take a breath. 

“I got some bad news this morning.” Jack’s eyes widen and you can see the panic rushing across her face as worse and worse scenarios run through her head. “I’m fine.” You rush to explain. “I just didn’t expect it and it shook me a bit. I took it out on you and I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry.” It’s the closest to the truth you could think of without giving anything away. 

Jack knows something isn’t quite right. You were never cryptic with her. “Maybe I can help? What happened?” 

“It doesn’t matter. You can’t help, not this time.” 

Her brows furrow in confusion. “Did you want to talk about it?” 

“It’s fine, really. I just need to forget about it and move on.” _And be the friend you expect me to be._

Jack steps forward, reaching for your hand again. You squeeze your eyes shut as they fall to focus on the floor instead of Jack whose concern was only growing. “Hey,” Her fingers touch your chin, forcing your face up again to meet her eyes. “Y/N. Come on, talk to me.” 

You move your face from her reach. You definitely should have waited till tomorrow to have this talk when the wounds were at least a little less fresh and when you had a proper story prepared. “I should be getting back to work.” Jack’s hand tightens on yours, stopping you from pulling out of her grasp. You sigh. “Look, I am sorry for snapping at you. I really am but I’m fine. There’s nothing to talk about.” 

Jack looks at you closely, brows furrowing as she analyses you. “Why have you hardly looked me in the eye since you got in here?” 

You tense. You desperately needed to get out of this room. “I…” You clear your throat as you try to think of something to say. Jack’s mobile starts ringing from where it sits on her desk and you have to stop yourself from breathing a sigh of relief. However, when she doesn’t make any effort to move, still completely focused on you, you speak up. “You should get that. It could be important.” _Could be Izzy._

“They’ll phone back if it is.” You could see Jack’s impatience growing as she crosses her arms across her chest. You force yourself to meet her gaze, guilt churning in your stomach when you see the hurt in her eyes. 

The phone stops ringing. The room is completely silent as you stare at each other. You don’t know what to say, how to get through this without letting her know about the pain you were feeling, about how disappointed and embarrassed you were because you’d been convinced she felt the same way. Tears begin building behind your eyes and you sigh. “Jack-”

The phone starts ringing again and Jack releases a frustrated sigh as she looks between you and her phone. “Don’t move.” She says and makes her way over to pick up her phone.

You needed to get the hell out of this room. You dig your phone out of your pocket and then turn to Jack. “We got a lead. I’ve got to go.” You speak quietly, as to not to disturb her call, signalling to the door. 

Jack shakes her head, rolling her eyes. Pissed at your obvious lie. “Sorry one second.” She removes the phone from her ear, holding it against her chest. “This isn’t over.” 

You don’t respond, just duck your head, and make your way out of her office. Everything was going to be fine. Jack would drop the subject soon, especially if you could act normal. Which you could. Easily. Tomorrow you’d bring coffee and pretend everything was fine and try to distance yourself a little. Not enough for Jack to notice but enough that you didn’t feel like you were drowning. 

This was going to be difficult, but it was the right thing to do.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader and Jack continue their discussion...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this slightly OOC? Yes. Am I too tired to care? Also, yes. Am I going to regret posting this? Almost certainly but I also don't know how to make it better and people want another update so, here you go. 
> 
> This is the second to last chapter by the way. Although, I've hardly started the next chapter so it will most probably be at least a couple of weeks until I post it.

You drag your feet as you head up the steps to Jack’s office. You hadn’t _exactly_ been avoiding her since your conversation yesterday, but you hadn’t put any effort in to go visit her either. It wasn’t obvious, luckily, because you’d been called to a case within an hour of getting into work this morning and hadn’t gotten back to the Navy Yard till gone midday. You were only going to visit her now though because Gibbs had told you to give her a stack of files of possible suspects. 

She doesn’t notice you straight away, too absorbed in whatever she was doing on her laptop. You take a moment to take in the scene, a small smile on your face as you admire her. She’s sitting crossed-legged on the couch, laptop resting in her lap and glasses falling down the bridge of her nose, brows furrowed in concentration. 

You knock lightly on the door and Jack looks up. Her face lighting up into a bright smile that has your heart thumping in your chest. And _god_ she was so beautiful. You clear your throat. “Gibbs wanted me to bring you these files.” You hold up the stack in your hand and Jack groans.

“Oh, that’s a lot.” 

Chuckling, you make your way across her office to place the stack on the coffee table. “Yeah, Petty Officer Malden wasn’t exactly popular. He did not play well with others.” Jack places her laptop next to her on the couch before grabbing the first case file and begins to flick through it. You stand awkwardly, leaning on one of her chairs that sat opposite the couch. This was the first time you’d been alone with her since you’d run out of her office yesterday, and you were doing an awful job of hiding your nerves. She could read you too well, whether that be because of you two being close, or because she was a psychologist or both, you didn’t know. You did know however that if she detected how you were feeling she’d try to push the conversation again, and you couldn’t blame her. You’d snapped at her and then proceeded to be tense and uncomfortable when you’d apologised. She knew something was wrong and was just trying to help but all you wanted to do was forget about it and work through the way your heart ached every time you saw her.

“Of course.” Jack rolls her eyes, dropping the case file, along with her glasses, back onto the table with a smirk. “They never want to make my job easy, do they?” 

“Where would the fun be in that?” Jack’s huffs a laugh and you swing on your heels, your heart and brain fighting between staying in or fleeing the room. You decide to listen to your brain for once and signal to her office door. “Anyway, I’ll leave you to it.” 

Jack jumps up from the couch as you turn to leave, quickly sliding in front of you and cutting off your exit. “Not so fast.” She smirks, keeping you in place with a hand on your hip. “We never finished our conversation yesterday.” 

You roll your eyes, forcing yourself to meet her inquisitive gaze. “I think you’ll find we did.” 

“You running from the room-” 

“I didn’t run from the room. I had work to do like I do now, so if you’ll excuse me.” Your voice is too defensive, your desperation to flee clear, and Jack’s eyes flash with hurt. You try to step around her, but she just follows, stopping you with a hand against your stomach. Your eyes close at the contact, butterflies coursing through you at the pressure of her warm hands and the softness of her touch. With the hand still resting on your hip, her thumb rubs soothing circles.

“Hey.” Your eyes flutter open at the softness in Jack’s voice. Her hand drops from your stomach but the other doesn’t leave your hip. “Please talk to me.” 

“Jack, I told you. I’m fine.” You whine. The concern in her eyes has guilt churning in your stomach. You really didn’t want to hurt her. She couldn’t find out about how upset you are about Izzy and she wouldn’t _if_ she allowed the conversation to drop, but you knew that would take a miracle, especially when she could tell you were hurting. Jack was nothing if not persistent. 

She releases a sigh, finally removing her other hand from you as she runs it through her hair, her frustration seeping into her voice. “No, you aren’t, and you haven’t been since you arrived at the office yesterday.” 

“I’m _fine!_ ” 

“What happened Y/N? You went to Amour’s in the morning which means you weren’t only okay, but you were in a good mood. So, you must have received this bad news sometime between ordering your coffee and when I arrived in the bullpen.” You step away from her, feet shifting as your arms wrap around your stomach to protect yourself from her words. 

“Don’t profile me, Jack.” 

The warning in your voice is clear masking the panic you felt at the idea of her finding out the truth. She doesn’t listen, just continues talking. “Considering you’d already drunk the majority of your coffee and eaten the pastry, I’d say it wasn’t until you got to the office because if it was before then you would have lost your appetite and never touched either.” 

“Stop it!” Your hands tighten into fists to hide the fact they were beginning to shake. Eyes leaving hers so she couldn’t see the frustrated tears building behind them.

“And because you haven’t been off with the rest of the team that would lead me to believe this ‘bad news’ of yours has something to do with me.” Hurt seeps into Jack’s voice. “Especially because you couldn’t look me in the eye yesterday and you can’t now either.” 

You roll your eyes using every ounce of self-control you had to not run to the other side of the room to escape her piercing stare. You couldn’t let her think she was right. “This has nothing to do with you, Jack. Please just drop it.” 

“People stop talking when I enter a room. Something is happening, and I’m sure I can find out whatever it is from someone else, but I’d rather you just told me.” You _hate_ the amount people gossip in this place. Jack was going to find out, there was no way she wouldn’t because even if you didn’t tell her she’d eventually overhear someone talking about it, it was inevitable. 

“Well, maybe people stop talking because you’re a psychologist who never knows when to butt the hell out.” You know it’s the wrong thing to say before the words even leave your mouth, but they escape anyway. Jack rears back, scoffing. 

“Oh, that’s how you want to play it huh?” 

You groan, hand rubbing your face as you shake your head. “No Jack. It isn’t, but you can’t seem to get the message that I don’t want to talk.” 

“I’ll go ask Ellie then, or Gibbs or, hell, even the agent down the hall because they all seem to know!” Jack stares at you, lips pressed tightly together as she waits for you to speak. You don’t say anything, just hold her glare until she sighs, stepping back. “Fine.” 

She spins around, hair nearly slapping you in the face, and begins to make her way to her office door. Panic and fear surge through you. The tears you’d been holding back spilling out as your breath quickens. The idea of her finding out from someone else somehow a lot worse. “Wait!” Your voice catches and Jack instantly stills. Her face drops when she turns back to see you, any anger fading away when she sees the tears rolling down your cheeks. “Jack.” You beg one last time. “Please, just drop it.” 

She comes back to stand in front of you, hand cupping your cheek to wipe away the wetness. You resist the urge to lean into the touch. “What could possibly be so bad to make you close off like this? Do you not trust me?” 

“Of course, I trust you.” The idea of not was almost laughable.

“Then talk to me,” Jack begs, tears shining in her own eyes. Her hand drops from your cheek, but she doesn’t step back. “I don’t know if you’ve been off with me because you knew I would be able to tell something was wrong or because whatever happened is to do with me but I can’t help if you don’t tell me what it is.”

“It’s not something I need your help with.” You sniff. 

“Then what do you need?” 

_To not have feelings for you._ The words sit on the tip of your tongue, but you don’t say them. You were going to have to tell her, but you couldn’t do it now. It’s selfish but you weren’t ready for the way everything would be different. She’ll pull away from you when she finds out because even if she says it doesn’t change anything, that you can both still be friends, it will. It will because you’ll have to watch the woman you care about fall in love with someone else and pretend it won’t tear you apart. You just needed one more day where she still looked at you with the softness and warmth you were used to. You take a deep breath, blinking away tears. “Can you give me a day? Just to sort my head out. I don’t want you finding out through gossip.” You chuff, bitterness seeping into your tone as you think about yesterday morning. “It’s never fun.” 

Jack frowns. “You know that the majority of gossip that goes around this place is widely inaccurate right? I mean the other day I heard a rumour that Jimmy and Gibbs had hooked up in the elevator.” 

“What?” Your face scrunches up in disgust as images that have you shuddering flash through your head. 

Jack chuckles. “Yep. Apparently, Jimmy looked sweaty when they got off the elevator together-”

You roll your eyes. “Jimmy’s nervous around Gibbs, of course, he was sweaty.” 

“Exactly, but with Gibbs’ track record of locking everyone in the elevator at some point well, the rumours took off.” 

“Let’s just hope Gibbs never finds out.” Jack hums in agreement. You smirk, tipping your head slightly. “Although, maybe it would stop him from doing it.” 

“I doubt it. There have been rumours about him and that elevator before. I think the whole team has apparently hooked up with him at some point including Leon and Me.” Jack smirks and you try very hard not to think about a particular fantasy of shoving Jack against the elevator wall and ravishing her. You duck your head, clearing your throat, missing the way Jack’s eyes flash and she smirks as if knowing where your mind had gone. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard a rumour that’s even close to the truth.” 

“Doesn’t mean some of them aren’t. Rumours usually have at least some truth to them.”

Jack frowns. “Is this what this is all about? A rumour?”

Looking back to Jack, you sigh. “It’s not just a rumour.” Jack’s confusion only grows as you squirm slightly. You’d gotten proof that it wasn’t just a rumour.

_Last night, when you’d been leaving for work, you’d ended up in the same elevator as Agent Gomez, the source of the gossip. You’d both smiled at each other as you had moved to stand next to the other woman. You could feel her shooting looks at you and you itched to ask her questions about the coffee date she’d witnessed._

_“I’m sorry-”_

_“Did she-” You both cut off, chuckling awkwardly. “Sorry, go ahead.”_

_“I just wanted to apologise. I didn’t know about you and her, so I didn’t expect the news to take off like that.”_

_“We’re just friends. There’s never been...She wouldn’t...not like that.” You shrug awkwardly, clearing your throat and avoiding Gomez’s eyes._

_She nods, offering a sympathetic smile. “Well, still, I’m sorry.”_

_Digging your phone out of your pocket you turn to Gomez. “Uh,” You bite your lip, trying to decide if it’s worth the gossip that could spread. You needed to be sure though. “Was this the woman she was with?”_

_Gomez eyes you before looking at the phone. A picture of Izzy you’d found on her Facebook page staring back at her (you may have done some light stalking earlier to see if you could find anything about the two of them - you hadn’t). Gomez nods, a sad smile on her face when she meets your eyes again. “Yeah, definitely.”_

_“Yeah, I thought so.” You sigh, putting the phone back into your pocket. “Anyway, I’ll see you around.” You offer a half-smile, exiting the elevator the second the doors start to open, holding back the tears threatening to break free now you’d confirmed your suspicions._

“Look, can we have this conversation later? I promise we’ll have it, but can you just give me some time.” 

“Yeah. Okay.” Jack tangles her fingers with yours, rubbing circles into your palm causing your heart to flutter. You were really going to miss this. She taps your temple lightly with her free hand. “Just promise you won’t run away from me.” 

“I promise.” 

Jack stares at you for another moment, sussing out your serenity and when she’s convinced you’re being truthful, she nods. “Okay.” She drops her hands from you, stepping back and you try not to miss her touch.

\----

You head to the shooting range straight after work. It was the place you always went to clear your head when you weren’t feeling up to a workout. It helped you to feel in control as you let the rest of the world fade away and focused on nothing but the target in front of you. It felt good to clear your head to not have to think about work or responsibilities and of course, Jack. You could just breathe.

You empty 2 clips into the target. Proud of yourself due to the accuracy of your shots. You hadn’t been to the shooting range in months, so it was nice to see you still had it. You reload the clip. Rolling your shoulders back you take a deep breath. You aim the gun, letting your thoughts fade away as you take the shot.

When you get back into your car it’s with the intention of going home but as you’re driving you think about the last couple of days and without planning it, you’re pulling up outside Jack’s house less than 30 minutes later.

The lights are on, so you know she’s home. It’s just after eight which means it’s not too late for you to turn up at her house unannounced. To be honest, turning up at each other's houses’ unannounced was kind of your speciality. 

You turn the engine off and get out of the car. You had to do this and this definitely wasn’t a conversation for the office. As you walk up the pathway to her house you suddenly realise it’s possible Izzy could be there and you almost turn right back around but if she was you’d just go home. Jack wouldn’t want the intrusion anyway so it would be easy to get out of without raising suspicion. Ringing the doorbell, you listen as you hear Jack shuffling around her house. You hold your breath as her footsteps get closer, swallowing roughly when she opens the door with an unsurprised smile. 

“I thought I’d see you tonight,” Jack says in a way of greeting. She steps aside allowing you to pass her. You take your jacket off, hanging it on the coat rack and flick off your shoes. When you turn back to face her you finally take in what she's wearing and a smile tugs at your lips. 

“Is that my t-shirt?” It’s the one you lent her after the whole nightmare ordeal, you’d honestly forgotten she’d worn it home and the fact she was wearing it now, out of choice and not because you’d blubbered on her shirt, has your heart fluttering.

Jack shrugs, a light blush tingeing her cheeks. “I keep meaning to give it back but it’s really comfortable.” 

“Keep it. It looks better on you anyway.” You turn away, already regretting your word choice as your cheeks heat up. You can feel Jack’s smirk as she follows you into her living room. She sits down on the couch, feet crossed underneath her as she stares up at you waiting patiently for you to speak. 

You shuffle, contemplating whether to stay standing where you were, a safe distance from Jack and within sight of the door for an easy flee or to take the seat next to her on the couch. “Please sit, you’re making me nervous with the shuffling.” Well, that takes the decision from your hands. You make your way over, taking the seat but making sure to leave more distance than normal between the two of you. Ok, here goes nothing. 

“I just want to start by saying that you’re really important to me and to be honest, if I had the choice I’d probably choose not to tell you so that nothing changes because I don’t want to make you uncomfortable or awkward around me, but NCIS is like a fucking rumour mill and I don’t want you to find out second-hand because that’s worse and would suck and nobody deserves to find out that way. Not that I’m saying I’m upset that I found out that way because It was really none of my business and if you wanted to tell me you would have but-”

“Y/N, Okay. Breathe.” Jack cuts off your tangent, hand reaching for your knee. Her mouth is hanging open slightly, brows furrowed as she watches you. You take a deep breath. “Okay, you good?” 

You nod, swallowing the lump in your throat and look back to Jack. “I know about you and Izzy. Agent Gomez saw you getting coffee together.” 

“Ok, let me explain-” 

“No, no. It’s fine, you don’t need to. I want you to be happy Jack.” You sigh, looking up to the ceiling as tears fill your eyes. “I just...In the last couple of months, I realised I have these feelings...for you.” Jack’s hand tightens on your knee but you can’t look at her as you continue, instead focusing on your hands as you twiddle with them anxiously. “And that’s totally on me because I should have pulled away or tried to get over them, but I didn’t, because I fell into some delusional fantasy where I thought you liked me back and was actually about to ask you out on a date when I found out about you and Izzy.” You chuckle self-deprecatingly, quickly wiping away a couple of tears that had managed to escape. “So, I got upset and was embarrassed and there you were, being amazing and kind, like always, and it all just got a little overwhelming and I snapped at you and I am really sorry about that.” 

“Y/N,” Jack breathes, eyes filled with tears. “Izzy had been flirty with me in San Diego, but that’s just how she is so I didn’t think anything of it. We’d made plans to see each other when we got back to DC but you know how busy work got-” 

“Jack, you really don’t need to explain. Actually, I’d prefer it if you didn’t.”

“Just listen.” Jack chastised, and you sigh, leaning back into the couch still unable to look at Jack properly. “We continued texting and eventually made plans for what I thought was just coffee like we used to do.” Jack chuckles sadly. “Turns out it wasn’t. She kissed me. It caught me off guard, but I pulled away.” 

The urgency in her last few words has you sneaking a glance at her, your brows furrowed slightly in confusion. Jack’s got a soft smile on her face and she reaches out, grabbing your hand causing your breath to catch. “I’m not dating Izzy, Y/N.” Your head spins as you look at Jack, the words not fully comprehending. “And I don’t want to date her either because there’s this amazing woman I work with who I can’t seem to stop thinking about.”

“Ellie, right?” You choke a laugh, heart thumping in your chest as you wipe at your eyes and try to gain control of your emotions. 

“No.” Jack breathes, eyes watery with her own unshed tears. She knew you were joking but she also needed to make sure you heard her. Her fingers absentmindedly fiddled with yours. “It’s you and it’s been you for months.”

You blow out a breath, staring at the women next to you in complete wonder. You reach out, cupping Jack’s cheek and she leans into the touch. “Good to know I’m not actually delusional.” 

Jack rolls her eyes but with an affectionate smile lighting up her face. Her eyes fall to your lips and your breath catches. She leans forward as your heart thrashes in your chest. Your mouth opens as you swipe your tongue across your lips in anticipation. Jack’s hovering inches away…

And then your phone rings. Jack chuckles, rolling her eyes as she pulls away. “I swear to whatever gods...” You mutter angrily under your breath, pulling your phone out of your pocket you release a frustrated groan when Tim’s caller ID flashes back at you. You smile apologetically. “Sorry.” 

“Hazard of the job.” Jack shrugs. 

“If you tell me we have a case I might actually murder you.” Is how you answer the phone. Jack laughs quietly from next to you. 

“Sorry, Y/N.” Tim chuckles. “Victim is a friend of SecNav, so Vance wants us all on this. I’ll text you the address.” 

“Ok. Thanks, Tim. I’ll be in asap.” You sigh as you say goodbye and hang up the phone. You slump back into the couch, rolling your head around to face Jack. “I really hate this job sometimes.” 

Jack chuckles at your pout, tangling your hands back together and squeezing. “And yet, you wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.” 

_I’d like to be doing you._

“Hey!” Jack reaches over swatting you lightly on the arm. “Mind out of the gutter.” You laugh, unsurprised she knew exactly where your mind had gone. 

“I didn’t say anything.” Your innocent expression has Jack rolling her eyes. Your phone pings, the text with the address coming through. You knew you had to go but there wasn’t a single part of you that wanted to move from where you were right now. Jack, if reading your mind, smiles softly. 

“Come on, I’ll walk you to the door.” She stands up, pulling you along with her. You only let go of her hand to slip your shoes and coat on. Jack opens the door, leaning against it as you make your way out. “I’ll hopefully see you in the morning.” 

“Maybe. Victims a friend of SecNav so I have a feeling it’s going to be an all-nighter.”

Jack’s shoulders slump slightly, she moves forward and wraps her arms around your waist, burying her head into your shoulder. You both stand like that for a moment, enjoying the feeling of holding each other in your arms. It all felt a little surreal, that any moment you were going to wake up and this would all have been a dream. 

Jack pulls back enough to look you in the eye. Your breath catches, head-spinning slightly, as she leans forward, her lips placing a soft kiss to the corner of your mouth. “To keep you thinking of me,” Jack smirks as she steps away, giving you a playful shove to the shoulder. “Now go, you’ve got a case to solve.” 

She winks and your knees go weak, she seriously had no right being this hot. When you don’t move Jack arches a brow, poking her finger into your side and making you squirm as you quickly step back. 

“Alright, fine, I’m going.” You make your way down her driveway before turning back to see her still standing in the door. “And you really think I ever stop thinking about you?” You shout. 

Jack grins. “I should hope not.” You roll your eyes playfully and Jack laughs. You wave a final goodbye before turning back around and making your way to your car, Jack’s eyes following you the whole way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter guys and then this story will officially be over! It's been a wild ride. Thank you all for sticking around and reading, I appreciate all of you so much! The comments you leave always inspire me to write more and help motivate me to continue when I'm frustrated with my writing (which is often).


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't believe we're finally at the end. It's been a wild ride! Thank you all for joining me on this journey. 
> 
> Jack wears a STUNNING dress in this chapter but my description doesn't do it nearly enough justice (to be honest, it's fairly crap) so I'm linking the dress and I recommend looking at before you start reading to give yourself a good image: https://www.net-a-porter.com/en-au/shop/product/temperley-london/kitty-wrap-effect-metallic-fil-coupe-chiffon-midi-dress/1209948
> 
> This is the readers one. The description should suffice but if you want a proper image here it is. (just imagine there's a slit in it as well): https://www.net-a-porter.com/en-au/shop/product/jason-wu-collection/open-back-satin-midi-dress/1211434

You sat on the cold autopsy table watching Jimmy pace back and forth, hair sticking up in different directions due to how many times he’d run his hands through it. “This was going to be the celebration we never had! But if I can’t make it or you guys can’t-” 

Jumping off the table you grab Jimmy’s arms halting his steps. “There’s no way you won’t be there and it’s still two days away Jimmy, I’m sure the case will be wrapped up by then.” 

Jimmy and Breena were throwing an anniversary party, they’d sent out invitations months ago but this was your third day working the case for SecNav and it didn’t seem like it would be wrapping up anytime soon so Jimmy was beginning to freak out. He wanted you all there and you wanted to be there. It was just the reality of that happening was lowering by the day. 

“You think so?” 

“I do. I don’t care if we wrap the case 10 minutes before the party begins, I’ll make sure everyone is there.” At your earnest expression, Jimmy relaxes slightly, and you drop your arms from him. 

“Thank you.” 

“Not a problem.” You smirk. “Now, I need to go get a book from Jack. I’ll see you later.” You exchange goodbye’s before you quickly make your way to the elevator, probably too giddy at the thought of seeing her. 

Since the evening at her house, you hadn’t really seen her even during office hours. This case was a hard one. Gibbs had you all working pretty much constantly. The only free time you got consisted of you heading home to catch a few hours of sleep, shower and maybe eat before you’d be heading back to the office. So, apart from one coffee break that you’d managed to catch together and a couple of times over the last few days she’d appear to drop off evals or watch an interrogation you hadn’t seen her. 

And it sounded pathetic, but you missed her. 

Jack’s sitting at her desk when you enter, a bright smile lights up her face when she sees you and it has you relaxing for the first time in days. “Hey.” 

“And to what do I owe this honour?” She grins, dropping her pen and turning her chair to face you. 

“Do you happen to own a copy of Hollin’s Criminal Behaviour?” 

“Yeah, on the bookshelf. For the case?” 

You hum, making your way over and start to scan the shelves for your target. “I remember reading it in college, it had a reference to a case that could help with this.” You shrug frowning. “Thought it was worth a look, that’s if I can find it-”

You suck in a sharp breath as Jack comes up behind you, fingers brushing your waist as the whole of her front pushes into your back and she leans over grabbing the book from the shelf. “This the one you looking for?” Her voice tickles your skin and you have to resist the urge to squeeze your thighs together, her voice sounding like pure sex. You swallow, nodding your head wordlessly as you take the book from her and try to control the blush rising up your cheeks. 

Jack steps back, a devilish smirk on her face as she makes her way back towards her desk as if she wasn’t aware of the effect she was having on you. “You’re a cruel woman, Jacqueline Sloane.” Jack laughs as she leans over her desk with a wiggle to her hips that has your eyes zeroing in on her ass before trailing down her legs to her heeled feet. She’s wearing a tight black pencil skirt with a zip down the back that was demanding your attention along with a champagne satin blouse. “Very cruel.”

Jack turns around humming, as you approach. “Is this where I’m supposed to pretend to be sorry?” Rolling your eyes, you drop the book onto the coffee table and then pull Jack into you. She wraps an arm around your waist pulling you in closer and arches a brow. You cup her cheek, a smile spreading across your face as you just take her in. 

“Hi.” 

“Hi” Jack’s expression softens. “Shouldn’t you be getting back to work?” 

“Yeah, probably but I’m really quite happy here at the moment.”

“Oh, well, I can’t argue with that.” 

You hum, your eyes moving to focus on Jack’s lips which are smirking devilishly and god, you really wanted to kiss her. “I think we should pick up where we left off the other night.” 

Jack’s nose scrunches up. “Really? In my office?” 

You shrug, stepping forward, prompting Jack backwards until her bottom hits the desk. “Why not? Plenty of fantasies involving this place.” 

Jack pushes your shoulder, as she huffs a laugh. “Behave.”

“Where’s the fun in that, Jacqueline?” 

Jack’s eyes darken, her gaze flicking to your lips and then back to your eyes. “I like when you call me Jacqueline.”

“That’s good to know.” You brush your thumb over Jack’s lip, a smirk blossoming on your face when you hear her suck in a sharp breath. “...Jacqueline.” 

“Y/N,” Jack warns. 

“Yes?” 

“Step. Back.” You pout but don’t move, and Jack rolls her eyes playfully. “I don’t want the first, well second, time I kiss you to be in my office when we’re both tired and also half concentrated on a case where someone could interrupt us at any second.” Good to know you weren’t the only one thinking about that kiss still...it’d been the main contender in your dreams (day and night) since it happened. How Jack felt in your arms, the feeling of her lips and the way she’d gripped your hair. You swallow roughly. 

“One, I didn’t know you were such a romantic,” You get a jab in your side for that, causing you to release a yelp and step back. “and two, you bringing up that kiss isn’t exactly motivating me not to kiss you.” 

“Pick the book up and get the hell out of my office.” 

“Bossy.” You mutter and then immediately duck seconds before a lollipop flies over your head. “Hey!”

Jack walks around her desk, falling into her chair with a smug smile on her face that has you rolling your eyes. 

“Fine. I get the message. I’m going.” Smiling you make your way to her office door. You pause before opening it though, turning back to see Jack shamelessly checking you out, you arch a brow. “Enjoying yourself?” 

“Immensely.”

You chuckle. “Oh, hey, you’re still coming to Jimmy’s anniversary party, right?” 

Jack nods. “If the case is wrapped up.”

“Ok, cool.” You swing on your heels, chewing your lip as you wonder if you should ask the question you’ve been toying around in your head for the last day. Jack’s watching you closely and it makes your chicken out. “I’ll meet you there I guess.” 

Jack smirks. “Or you could pick me up?”

Your cheeks flush pink as a smile takes over your face “Or yeah, I could do that.”

“Good, now go do your job.” 

“Yes, boss.” You were pretty sure if you hadn’t moved and shut the door behind you another lollipop would have been flung at you.

\----

The case is finally wrapped up Saturday afternoon and you’re practically dead on your feet by the time you finish your report and hand it into Gibbs. He takes one look at you and the rest of the team, all in similar states of drowsiness and huffs. “Alright, go home and get some shut-eye.”

“Oh, thank god.” Nick sighs from his desk, perking up for the first time that day. You quickly grab your bag and switch off your computer.

“See you all at six!” You shout back to the team as you make your way to the elevator receiving a variety of groans and grins in response. 

You manage a couple of hours of sleep when you get home and wake up feeling semi-human and start to get ready for the evening. Your dress for the night was gorgeous. It was a midnight blue colour and you may have picked it out with Jack in mind. It was a silk midi halter neck dress that flatters your figure. The criss-cross spaghetti straps held the back of your dress together, showing off your back all the way down to your waist but your favourite part of the dress was the slit that went up above your knee. You paired the dress with a pale gold clutch and strappy heels, you keep your hair down styling it nicely and applied your makeup, spending way too much time trying to get the perfect wing with your eyeliner. 

Your heart’s thumping in your chest when you pull up outside Jack’s house. You shoot her a text informing her you were here and then get out the car and lean against it as you wait for her. 

Your jaw nearly hits the floor when she exits. She looked like a literal goddess in her dress. It was a black chiffon material that was covered in metallic purple leaves and golden birds. It was a wrap dress with a flowy skirt and billowy sleeves with a deep plunging v neck that showed you ample cleavage while still looking completely sophisticated. She’d paired it with a simple pair of nude heels and a matching bag. Her hair was straight for a change and you could feel yourself heating up at the sight, her smirk devilish as she approached. 

“You look...gorgeous.” You swallow roughly and the second she steps in reach you pull her flush against you. Jack wraps her arms around your neck, clutch still in her hands as she laughs softly. 

“I’m glad you like it, cost me an arm and a leg.” 

“Definitely worth it.” You hum, your eyes dropping to her cleavage then up to her mouth and then back to her eyes which are filled with amusement. 

“You look stunning too. I like you in blue.” Your cheeks heat up as one of Jack’s hands moves from your neck to trail down your back, stopping and teasing at the waist of your dress. 

“Jack.” You warn, fingers digging into the soft material on her hips. Jack smiles smugly and you move to cup her cheek pulling her in closer to you.

“Nuh-uh.” Jack stops you, pulling her head back as you pout. “You’ll ruin my lipstick.” 

“Seriously?!” You moan, mouth hanging open as Jack steps back and with a smug smirk walks around you opens the passenger’s side of the car and slips in. You tip your head back groaning. She was actually going to kill you.

\----

Because of how busy the case had been, you’d spent the whole week in professional work mode, meaning people (well, Ellie) didn’t have the opportunity to question what had happened between you and Jack. No one could really work out how the two of you were either because whenever Jack appeared she was in work mode as well. She’d shoot you a few smirks or smiles and you think Ellie noticed a couple of times, but it wasn’t enough to form a conclusion of what had happened.

Jack and you had never clarified what the two of you were and to be honest, you weren’t in any rush to have that conversation. You knew you liked Jack and that she liked you too so that was enough, however that didn’t help you with tonight. Part of you wanted to scream from the rooftops that the woman of your dreams was into you but a bigger part of you wanted to keep this between the two of you, at least for now. 

“Jack?” You ask, switching off the engine of the car as you look from the venue and towards her. She hums, as she sorts through her clutch. You don’t respond and Jack looks over to you with a frown. 

“Everything okay?” 

“Yeah. I just...Tonight. Can we keep us on the down-low, it’s not that I don’t want-” 

Jack reaches out and squeezes your hand, halting your words. “I’d like that. I could really do with at least a few weeks without Torres’ comments and the looks from the rest of the team. Plus, it makes it more fun if people don’t know.” 

You breathe a sigh of relief, squeezing Jack’s hand with a soft smile. “Thank you.” 

Jimmy’s outdone himself. The venue is beautiful. A decent sized room filled with round tables, a dance floor and a bar already surrounded by guests. You spot Ellie and Nick standing at the bar and wave at them. Ellie waves back and signals her head to the side of the room where the rest of the team were. Gibbs, Ducky, Vance, Kasie, and Tim and Delilah. 

Jack laughs from beside you when she sees Gibbs. He looks widely uncomfortable and you know this is his literal idea of hell. A room full of people, half of who he doesn’t know but who he’ll probably end up having to socialise with while also wearing a suit, which looked brand new so probably wasn’t that comfortable. “Enjoying yourself, cowboy?” Jack teases when you reach the group. 

Gibbs grunts causing the rest of the group to start laughing. Everyone falls into conversation. Jack and Vance walk away from the group, presumingly to get drinks and you talk with Delilah. This was her first night away from the twins for a while and you could tell she was enjoying it. You want to say hello to Jimmy but every time you see him he’s already talking to someone while looking a little frazzled, so you decide to wait for later. 

It’s not long before it’s time for food. You make your way over to the table the team had claimed as their own. Jack’s sitting down already, a free seat on one side of her that she signals to. You grin and make your way over but before you get close enough Ducky takes the chair. 

“Sorry.” Jack mouths, disappointment clear and you shrug, trying to hide your pout. There’s a seat free in between Nick and Kasie so you take that one. Jack was basically opposite you, so it wasn’t too bad. 

Food is served, conversation is had and after dessert plates are cleared away Jimmy rises from his chair. He’s sitting a few tables away from you all, he clinks his glasses a little hard causing it to smash in his hands. Nick sniggers from next to you and both you and Ellie elbow him in the side at exactly the same time. “Hey!” Nick whines as the rest of the table laugh, Jack looking at you with a playful roll of the eyes and smirk.

Jimmy clears his throat. “Okay, let’s try that again. Breena and I want to thank you all for coming. This party has been a long time coming, and I’d like to thank Y/N for keeping me calm throughout the week as I freaked out on more than one occasion that this was going to be a repeat of what happened with our wedding all those years ago.” Jimmy nods towards you with a smile, and you lift a glass up at him and smile, your cheeks heat up as everyone turns to look at you. You see Tim and Gibbs exchange a look as they remember the day years before. It’s weird to think that the team was completely different now and that there was an ocean of people you’d never had the opportunity to meet. It makes you sad on occasion but then you look at Jack, as you do now, and you decide it doesn’t matter. 

“So, I asked you all here today to celebrate Breena and I. We met around this time 10 years ago and she brought a light into my life I didn’t even realise I was missing. It hasn’t always been easy, sometimes it’s been damn right difficult, but I wouldn’t ever change any of it. Getting to love you, Breena has been one of the greatest honours of my life, along with being Victoria’s father.” Your eyes flick from Jimmy and towards Jack. She’s watching Jimmy with a soft smile on her face and your heartbeat begins to pick up. “With the job I do, it gets difficult to see the good in the world, sometimes the bad just seems like too much, that no matter what I do there’s always going to be something evil lurking around the corner. And maybe that’s true, but it’s also true that coming home to you, no matter my day, will never fail to lift my mood because just being near you or hearing your voice fills me with a sense of calm and belonging. Our love isn’t perfect because we aren’t perfect but it’s _real._ It makes me a better man and a better father. It has kept me strong and helped me to grow into the person I am today, and every day I come home and see you I’m reminded of how lucky I am that you walked into my life and decided I was worthy of your love. So, I want to thank you Brenna, and Victoria, for being my home, for being my world.” 

“Wow, Jimmy’s got skills,” Nick mutters from next to you but you don’t acknowledge it, can’t. Your eyes remain fixed on the side of Jack’s head as you think about how the thing between the two of you could easily become love...You wonder if it already is because you look at her and you feel that sense of calm and belonging. You’d had feelings for Jack long before you admitted them to yourself and yes, she could set your body on fire with just a look but she could also make your chest swell with something words couldn’t describe, and that’s what love is right? Indescribable. 

Jack turns her head and looks at you, her eyes are misty, and your emotions must be all over your face because Jack sucks in a breath. Her eyes soften with a smile just for you, and yep, you’re a goner.

\----

Jack disappears once people start to make their way to the dance floor. You search the whole room for her and eventually find her standing outside on the patio. Her arms are wrapped around her waist as she looks up at the sky. You can still hear the music sounding from the hall as you make your way to stand beside her, pausing only to place your drinks on a table. Jack doesn’t move but you know she knows you’re here. “Everything okay?” You ask quietly, lightly bumping your shoulder against hers as you look up to the sky. It’s a clear night and the stars shine brightly down on you.

“Yeah, just…” Jack blows out a breath and she doesn’t need to use any more words because you get it. 

“Yeah, me too.” Jack smiles and lightly bumps her shoulder back against yours. A song you recognise starts sounding from the hall, and you grin. “Come with me.” 

You tug at her arm, prompting her to drop her arms from her waist and you tangle one of your hands with hers and drag her down the side of the building. “Y/N, where are we-” 

“Ssh.” You whisper and know Jack has rolled her eyes without even turning to look at her. You look around the space, stopping when you reach a slightly secluded area. It’s dark enough that people wouldn’t immediately notice the two of you if they came outside, but still close enough that you can hear the music, even if it’s slightly muffled. You turn back to look at Jack, who’s watching you with an amused smile. “Dance with me?”

Jack grins and tugs you close. Your hands remain clasped together as she holds you against her and you both move to the song. You move your free hand to fiddle with the ends of Jack’s hair. You loved her beachy waves but her with straight hair just did something to you. “You look beautiful tonight.” You say as Jack spins you out. 

“I know,” Jack smirks, and you roll your eyes and spin yourself back into her. She grasps your other hand and you sway, your back pushed into her front as she holds you close. Jack sighs as she rests her head on your shoulder. Your eyes fall shut as you bask in the moment. It still felt a little surreal, that this was your new reality. That you could touch and hold her like this without fear of rejection.

“Thank you.” The words escape your lips in a breathy whisper. 

Jack hums, “For what?” 

“For everything. For being you.” Jack smiles into your shoulder, placing a soft kiss against the exposed skin. She drops one of your hands and you turn back around to face her, cupping her cheek and lightly brushing a thumb over her open lips before meeting her eyes. “Can I kiss you yet?” It’s not a whine but it’s almost one and Jack smirks but instead of answering moves her hand to the back of your neck and pulls you in. 

And oh, god, it’s better than the first time. The kiss is tantalizingly soft and slow and full of things that it was way too early to say. She pulls away all too quickly with a light nip to your lip that has you wanting to pull her right back to you. “Was it worth the wait?” Jack’s face is full of smug satisfaction so you assume your eyes are slightly glazed. 

“You’re the romantic, you tell me.” 

“You think you're cute, huh?” Jack rolls her eyes, lightly poking you in the side causing you to laugh. 

“Oh, I’m damn right adorable.” 

Jack snorts. “You wish.” Laughter sounds from the hall drawing both of your attention, Jack sighs and steps away. “We should go back inside.” 

You pout. As much as it was the right thing to do no part of you wanted to return to a hall full of people and not stay right here in Jack’s arms. “5 more minutes.” 

Jack tugs your hand. “Come on, It’s Jim-”

“Make me.” Jack freezes, swallowing roughly as her eyes darken in the moonlight. You bite your lip, preening at Jack and that’s all it takes for her to pull you back in flush against her. She leans in, her mouth coming to hover by your ear. 

“Fine, but you might moan a little.” and _oh._ That definitely wasn’t fair. Jack captures your lips in a kiss that has your toe’s curling. Your hand cups her jaw, the other wrapped around her waist to keep her close while Jack’s hand finds its way to your hair. She walks you backwards until you hit the wall. 

“Not motivating me to go inside.” You say in between kisses. Jack makes a noise of frustration every time you pull your mouth away from hers. 

“Shut up.” Her lips slam back into yours and your tongues fight for dominance. Jack pushes you further into the wall, her hand moving to tease at the slit of your dress and you moan, thighs squeezing together. Jack smirks against your mouth and takes control of the kiss. You don’t try to fight it, your hand skims down her back and palms her ass causing Jack to groan into your mouth. In retaliation, Jack’s hand sneaks further up the slit in your dress, shifting it upwards as her fingers tease the top of your thigh and you wiggle against her, your body already aching for her touch. You nibble her lip when she just smirks. 

“Really?” You say breathlessly. “You made me wait to kiss you but your fine with basically fucking me against a wall?” 

Jack laughs. “No, just getting you worked up as punishment.” 

Your eyes close and your head tips back when Jack runs her nails down from where they rest on your thigh. “It’s working.” Jack kisses up your neck, making her way to your earlobe which she roughly tugs before instantly soothing it with a swipe of her tongue. 

“Good.” 

“Jacqueline.” You whine, bringing her mouth back to meet yours as Jack’s hand squeezes your thigh and she releases a breathy moan. 

Someone loudly clears their throat and you jump in Jack’s arms, yanking your mouth away from her and looking towards none other than Leon Vance. Your face turns scarlet as you quickly fix your dress while Jack just steps back with a smug smile and turns to look at her friend. 

“Can I help you, Leon?” You know she’s friends with the director, but you have no idea how she’s not at least slightly embarrassed. Vance rolls his eyes, shaking his head as he chuckles and looks between the two of you.

“Really, Jack?” Jack’s entire body tenses up, her face morphing into a scowl. Leon’s eyes widen as Jack’s body shifts to stand slightly in front of you, protecting you. 

“Yes. What’s the problem?” 

“That’s not what I meant. I meant that if you’re going to” Vance’s face scrunches up slightly “do that...at least do it somewhere private.” 

“It was private until you turned up.” You mutter but obviously not quietly enough as Vance releases an unimpressed snort as Jack laughs. Your face heats up all over again and you groan, dropping your head onto Jack’s shoulder as you die from embarrassment. 

“Anyway, I’ll leave you to it. Just go somewhere private before Victoria, or even Jimmy, comes across you and you scar them for life.” You smother a laugh into Jack’s shoulder as you imagine the look of horror on Jimmy’s face. Jack must do the same as she chuckles. With one last shake of the head, Vance turns around. “Nice to know some office gossip does ring true though.” 

Your head snaps up from Jack’s shoulder. “What office gossip?” Both of you shout at the same time but Vance doesn’t answer just continues walking and makes his way back into the hall. Jack and you turn to each other and break out into laughter.

“Do you think it’s late enough that we can leave?” 

Jack arches a brow “Got somewhere to be?” You grin but don’t respond so Jack looks at her watch and shrugs. “Kind of early but if we’re apologetic we’d probably be fine.”

Pulling Jack in by the fabric of her dress as your hand comes up to swipe at the underside of her breast and you breathe against her lips “Take me home Jack.” She growls, capturing your mouth in a searing kiss that has you whimpering. You slow it down into soft kisses, both of you eventually separating as you take ragged breaths. 

The lipstick Jack had been trying to protect at the beginning of the night was now basically non-existent, most of what is left is smudged around her lips and with a chuckle, you reach out and wipe it away. “You need to get a kiss-proof lipstick.” 

Jack smirks. “It looks better on you anyway.” Your eyes widen as you wipe a thumb over your own lips surprised to see the muted pink of Jack’s lipstick covering your thumb. “Here, let me.” Jack wipes at your mouth, getting rid of the rest before placing a soft peck against your lips. “Ready to go?” 

“More than.” 

You drop each other’s hands, keeping a suitable distance between you as you make your way back into the hall. You feign tiredness as an excuse, and no one really questions it especially after the case this week. You pull Jimmy and Breena into hugs, congratulating them and apologising for ducking out early. Vance gives you both a pointed look but doesn’t say anything, although his smirk says enough if Gibbs’ eye roll is anything to go by. Delilah looks absolutely gleeful and it prompts you to check your dress is in place and run a hand through your hair to check you were presentable as there wasn’t a reason she should be this knowing. You watch as she leans over and whispers in Tim’s ear. Tim splutters on his drink head flying up to look between you and Jack, his ears turning bright pink. 

You look to Jack, who’s watching you with an affectionate smile and you feel your chest warm as you breathe deeply. She tilts her head towards the door and you nod, both of you saying one final goodnight to the team before making your way out of the hall. 

“Do you think anyone doesn’t know about us?” You ask, looking at Jack over the top of your car. 

She huffs. “Not with the way you were making goo-goo eyes at me the whole night.” 

Your jaw drops open, as you make a noise in outrage trying to dampen the blush rising up your cheeks. “It’s not like you were any better!” 

Jack shrugs as she fails to suppress her smile. “Probably not.” 

Life isn’t perfect. You’d accepted that a long time ago, but as you drive to your apartment listening to Jack hum along to the music playing from the radio as she flicks through her phone, it felt pretty damn close. It didn’t matter that you had a mountain of chores waiting for you at home, or that both of you were a little jaded, or that at any moment you could be called into work. All that mattered was that she was next to you.

“Will you stop looking at me and focus on the road? I don’t really fancy ending our evening with a trip to Bethesda.” 

And even if she didn’t know it, she already had your heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, so this really is the end. Really thank you guys for reading/commenting/leaving kudos. I'm honestly kind of sad it's over. I hope you're happy with how I decided to end it. It took me forever to decide how to do it because I just kept adding more ahah
> 
> Anyway thank you guys, and if you haven't already, please check out my other fics (shameless little self-plug there)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I'm unsure how many chapters this is going to be exactly at the moment but I'm aiming for around 10. There was _a lot_ of dialogue this chapter, I don't know what your guys' opinion on that is but I'm hoping it won't be as heavy the rest of the story. It was just required this chapter to set the story up.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed, as always feedback is always appreciated and I hope you'll follow the story :)


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